Ian Feuer

Ian Anthony 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. He runs his own soccer academy Premier Goalkeeping Academy in Southern California and is goalkeeper coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Feuer is also married to Lindsey Havens and has three children.

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. Feuer's life took a significant turn when, at age 16, he attended a soccer clinic run by Harald Schumacher. Schumacher recommended that Feuer move to Europe to develop his skills and Feuer immediately took his advice.^[1]

Feuer moved to Belgium in 1988 where he signed with First Division club Brugge. In 1991 he joined Molenbeek, also of the Belgian First Division, on loan from Brugge. He played nineteen league matches For Molenbeek, before returning to the U.S.^[2]

International career

While with Molenbeek, Feuer was also on the U.S. roster at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Feuer and Brad Friedel were the two keepers selected for the U.S. Olympic Team. Feuer earned his lone cap with the U.S. national team when he came on for Mark Dodd in the 71st minute of a March 18, 1992 game against Morocco.

Return to U.S.

When Feuer returned to the U.S. from Belgium he signed with the Los Angeles Salsa.^[2] He played for Salsa in their 1993 American Professional Soccer League season, making 17 regular season appearances for them.^[3] The team made the playoffs before losing to Colorado Foxes in the championship game.^[3] Feuer was named Rookie goalkeeper of the season whilst with Salsa.^[2]

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.^[4]

On 11 September 1995 Feuer began another loan spell, this time with First Division side Luton Town, and he debuted for them two days later against Millwall. He started fourteen straight league matches for the Hatters up to a game against Tranmere Rovers on 2 December 1995, and then on 14 December Luton signed him on a permanent basis for a fee of £580,000. His first game as a full Luton player was on 16 December 1995 versus Portsmouth. In total he played 38 league games for Luton in the 1995–96 season.^[5]

He established himself as the club's first choice as keeper, seeing time in 97 League matches overall for Luton,^[6] until he injured his right shoulder in August 1997.

MLS

On March 24, 1998, Major League Soccer (MLS) signed Feuer 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 Football 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.^[7]

When Feuer arrived in Colorado, he was competing with 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. ^[8]

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.^[9] 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 Premiership side Derby County during the 2000-2001 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 as Feuer then got asked to go on a trial with Arsenal. After almost signing with Arsenal, Feuer went on 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 not come to terms with Feuer and pulled out of the deal. Feuer then retired from playing professionally and returned to the U.S. to start his coaching career.

References

External links

• Derby County
• Feuer’s Goalkeeping Academy

United States squad – 1992 Summer Olympics
1 Friedel 2 Rast 3 Lalas 4 Burns 5 Imler 6 Brose 7 Washington 8 Lapper 9 Snow 10 Reyna 11 Allnutt 12 Dayak 13 Moore 14 Jones 15 Ibsen 16 Lagos 17 Huwiler 18 Feuer 19 Henderson 20 Onalfo Coach: Osiander