Ian Feuer

Ian Feuer

Personal information
Full name	Ian Anthony Feuer
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 November 2006

Ian Anthony "Tony" Feuer (born May 20, 1971 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a retired U.S. soccer goalkeeper who spent most of his career with English clubs with time in Belgium and the United States.

Move to Belgium

Feuer, the son of show business parents, was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. While growing up, he developed a love for soccer after beginning to play at age 8. His coaches moved him to the goal when he was 11 because of his clumsiness. Feuer's life took a significant turn when, at age 16, he attended a soccer clinic run by Toni Schumacher. Schumacher recommended that Feuer move to Europe to develop his skills and Feuer immediately took his advice. Feuer moved to Belgium in 1988 where he signed as an apprentice with First Division club Brugge. On August 1, 1991, he joined Molenbeek, also of the Belgian First Division on loan from Brugge. He remained with the Molenbeek until May 31, 1993, playing nineteen matches, before returning to the U.S.

International career

While with Molenbeek, Feuer was also on the U.S. roster at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He saw no playing time as he was the backup to Brad Friedel. Feuer also earned his one cap with the U.S. national team when he came on for Mark Dodd in the 71st minute of a March 18, 1992 loss to Morocco.

Return to U.S.

When Feuer returned to the U.S. he signed with the Los Angeles Salsa of A-League Soccer for the 1993 season. While the Salsa ended the season fourth in the rankings, they made the playoffs, defeating the Vancouver 86ers in penalty kicks in the semifinals. The team then lost to the Colorado Foxes in the championship game.

Move to England

Feuer was on West Ham United's books for the 1994-1995 season but did not play any competitive matches for them, with Luděk Mikloško being their first choice keeper. Therefore, West Ham loaned Feuer to Division Two club Peterborough United on 20 February 1995 and he was to play sixteen games for The Posh that season.

Feuer began the 1995-1996 season with West Ham. In August 1995, he broke his wrist while training with the U.S. national team before a match with Sweden. However a month later he was fit enough that West Ham loaned Feuer to Division One club Luton Town. Feuer started fourteen league matches over the next three months and in December 1995, Luton bought Feuer's contract from West Ham for £580,000. He established himself as the club's first choice as keeper, seeing time in 97 League matches overall for Luton, until he injured his right shoulder in August 1997. While on the bench, Luton's second string keeper, Kelvin Davis took over.

MLS

On March 24, 1998, Major League Soccer (MLS) signed Feuer on a free transfer from Luton Town. MLS allocated Feuer to the New England Revolution. He played 26 games in the 1998 season before being traded to the Colorado Rapids for a future draft consideration on February 24, 1999. The Revs traded Feuer when Walter Zenga announced he intended to play for New England. Before the trade, the Revs had loaned Feuer to English Nationwide Conference club Rushden & Diamonds. Feuer impressed during an FA Cup tie in which he made numerous impressive saves to take his team to a 0-0 draw with Leeds United.

When Feuer arrived in Colorado, he was the backup keeper to Marcus Hahnemann. However, when Hahnemann moved to Fulham during the season, Feuer stepped into the nets for the Rapids last nineteen games of the season. Those nineteen games saw the Rapids rapidly drop in the standings and on November 29, 1999, the team declined to pick up the second year in Feuer’s contract.

Back to England

On October 1, 2000, Feuer signed with Cardiff City on a monthly contract as a backup keeper, although he did not play a League game for them. However, a month later he was transferred to West Ham where he made 3 League appearances. At the end of the 1999-2000 season, he moved to Division 1 club Wimbledon. He spent the next two seasons with Wimbledon as understudy to Kelvin Davis. However, the club did loan him to Derby County during the 2000-2001 season where he made just 2 appearances, although he was released by Wimbledon at the end of the 2001-2002 season. On August 12, 2002,he signed a week by week contract with Tranmere Rovers when their starting keeper, Keith Welch, was injured. That only lasted two weeks and two games. Feuer then had a trial with Arsenal followed by a trial with Wolverhampton Wanderers during September 2002 where he featured as an unused substitute in two league games. Less than a week later, Crystal Palace attempted to sign Feuer when Matt Clarke was injured. However, they could they could not come to terms with Feuer and pulled out of the deal. When no other clubs expressed an interest in Feuer, he retired from playing professionally and returned to the U.S.

As of March 2010, Feuer is the tallest goalkeeper to have ever played in the Premier League.

Retirement

Since retiring from playing professionally, Feuer has been involved in several ventures, most of them as a youth soccer coach. In 2005, he was on the staff of Southern California United.

In 2005, Feuer played a bit role as an assistant soccer coach in the movie Kicking and Screaming.

In 2007, he was named the new goalkeeper coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy following the release of Tim Hanley.

External links

• Derby County
• Feuer’s personal site