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Marcus Hahnemann

Born: 15/6/1972 in Seattle, United States of America
Position: Goalkeeper
Signed for Reading: Played 6 games on loan in 2001/02, then signed permanently on 14/8/2002
Career: Seattle Pacific University (1990-1993), Seattle Sounders (1994-1996), Colorado Rapids (1997-1999), Fulham (1999-2002), Rochdale (loan 2001), Reading (loan 2001/02), Reading (2002 to date)
International appearances: 6 full caps for United States of America (as at 13/5/2006)

Marcus followed the traditional American sports route of going to university, in his case Seattle Pacific. Whilst there he gained a degree in Physical Education. He played for four years for their football team (the Falcons), was three times named in the All-American team and was part of the Falcons team that won division 2 of the national championship in 1993. After university, he joined Seattle Sounders of the A-League, winning the championship in 1996. (Former Reading forward Gary Heale was a player and coach at Seattle, and he and Marcus actually played on the same side on occasion!) He joined Colorado Rapids in 1997 for the start of the second season of Major League Soccer (MLS).

However, Marcus seems to have always had an eye on a move abroad. In late 1994 he trained for a week with St Pauli in Hamburg, then in November 1995 he had a trial with Sheffield Wednesday and was expected to also visit Everton and Southampton whilst in England. One year later, he went to Japan to try out with several division 1 clubs there. In January 1998 he had a trial with Aston Villa although presumably nothing came of it. In an interview Marcus has said that he kept sending videos to Fulham, although I don't know why he should limit himself to that one club. However, then Fulham manager Paul Bracewell did fly to New York to watch a game Marcus was playing in, and signed him for Fulham in the summer of 1999, which was in the middle of the MLS season. Colorado received a transfer fee of $150,000 (about £80,000), although I have also seen it reported as $80,000, £90,000, £100,000 and £150,000!

Former Reading trialist Maik Taylor was also at Fulham and Edwin van der Saar joined later, so Marcus' chances were limited. He made only four appearances in total, but had spells on loan at Rochdale and then Reading in 2001/02. After conceding three goals in his first two games for Reading, he kept four consecutive clean sheets before returning to Fulham. Attempts to extend his loan spell were blocked by the London club, whose manager Jean Tigana said that his policy was not to let anyone go out on loan for more than a month. (If this was blackmail to encourage us to pay a transfer fee it did not work because Reading instead signed Ben Roberts on loan.)

In the summer of 2002, Marcus' contract with Fulham expired, although they did give him a deal for one more month so that they had goalkeeping cover for the Intertoto Cup. In practice this meant one appearance as an unused substitute for a home game with Finnish side FC Haka. That summer Marcus also had spells training with Coventry City and Middlesbrough, played a pre-season friendly for Walsall against Exeter City during a trial, considered a return to MLS, and was offered terms by Reading, Luton Town and possibly other clubs (Southampton were mentioned but I never saw the story confirmed).

He signed a two-season deal with Reading in August 2002 and quickly ousted Phil Whitehead as the club's number one keeper. During that first season, Reading extended his contract for a further year. When American Tim Howard moved from New York / New Jersey Metrostars to Manchester United in the summer of 2003, Hahnemann was one of the keepers that the MLS team said they were interested in signing.

Marcus has developed a very accurate and long kick from either the ground or out of his hands. He uses side-arm kicking that he said he had picked up from a Mexican whilst at university. He is physically strong which allows him to command the penalty area whilst taking crosses and to throw the ball a long way. Despite his physique he's also good at shot-stopping, although he does seem to carry a bit of excess weight some of the time. After games where Reading have won, he will normally throw an empty drinks bottle into the crowd, and has also distributed shirt and gloves after either an exceptionally good or an exceptionally bad performance.

Notes:
(a) Both Marcus' parents are from the Hamburg area of Germany, so he has a German passport and does not need a work permit to play in the European Union.
(b) From 26/10/2002 to 14/12/2002 he went 757 minutes without conceding a goal for Reading, including seven consecutive clean sheets (club and League records are 1,103 minutes and 11 clean sheets by Steve Death in 1979). John Harley of Sheffield United - on loan from Marcus' old club Fulham and so a former team-mate - ended the run. During the run of clean sheets, Marcus refused to shave. However, his personal best is 944 minutes from 27/9/1991 to 1/11/1991 whilst playing for his university team, still a record for their division.
(c) In 2003, Marcus was recalled to the USA national squad. He played in a friendly game against New Zealand over eight years after his previous international appearance. The only American with a longer gap in international football was Joseph Michaels, and in his case the gap of nearly ten years from 1937 to 1947 was probably only because there were no games played!
(d) A US-based Reading fan set up a tribute website to Marcus: Bald Yank.

International career

Long before joining Reading, Marcus played three games for USA. He was not recalled to the USA squad until the summer of 2003, when he played in a friendly and was in the squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup. For possible future international appearances, go to the international dates page.

Friendly:

Sunday, 8th June 2003 - United States of America 2 New Zealand 1, at University of Richmond Stadium, Richmond, Virginia. Marcus played the first half before being substituted with the score at 1-1.

2003 FIFA Confederations Cup (in France):

Marcus was one of three goalkeepers in the USA squad. He was an unused substitute in each of their three games in Group B, but they did not qualify for the next stage. Details as follows:

Thursday, 19th June 2003 - United States of America 1 Turkey 2, at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne
Saturday, 21st June 2003 - United States of America 0 Brazil 1, at Stade Gerland, Lyon
Monday, 23rd June 2003 - United States of America 0 Cameroon 0, at Stade Gerland, Lyon

Final Group B table:

The following is a list of Marcus' full international appearances for the USA:

The 2005 Gold Cup saw the USA win the trophy, although Marcus played only in the first game of the tournament.

Marcus appeared in the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament only after USA had already qualified for the finals.

He played the first 83 minutes of a game against the Trinidad & Tobago Under-23 side on 9/12/1994 before being substituted. USA won 2-0 but the game does not count as a full international appearance.

He was also in the squad for the USA in the 1995 Parmalat Cup, a four-team tournament played at Giants Stadium in New Jersey with the other teams being club sides Boca Juniors, Parma and Benfica. USA lost 2-1 to Parma in a semi-final on 4/8/1995 and then beat Benfica in the third-place match two days later. Marcus did not play against Benfica but I don't know the line-up for the game against Parma. Again, this would not count as a full international.

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