Seattle Sounders FC newly acquired goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann held court with area reporters after his first practice on Monday afternoon to discuss his reasons for returning back to Seattle.
Courtesy of Joshua Mayers stellar transcribing skills, the goalkeeper spoke with the media for 16 minutes on a large variety of topics.
Hahnemann was a former A-League Sounder way back in the day of his 18-year-long professional career. Because he is a former national league player he is treated to the allocation process by the MLS, something he expressed frustration about.
The whole allocation was designed to make the league fair and all that stuff, but then you can sign anybody from any other national team and they don't have to go through the same sort of process. It's a little bit frustrating. Last year, funny enough, Montreal had the allocation pick, so if I had signed with the league, because I'm a U.S. national-team player, I would have ended up in Canada. (laughs) That makes sense. That makes sense to me. Go to Canada.
The move to the Sounders is likely the last chapter of Hahnemann's professional soccer career. The goalkeeper is 40-years-old and hasn't played in a professional game since 2011, and for all intents and purposes was pretty much retired. But the playing bug kept biting and Hahnemann jumped back in.
Of course I want to play. I'm not coming here just to make numbers and to come into training -- that's not why I'm a goalkeeper. I can tell you it's not the money that Adrian's paying me. (laughs) I can tell you that for a fact. That's not why I came out here. Adrian did tell me he was a little bit embarrassed in what he was offering and I go, 'Whatever's fine. It doesn't matter. I just want to come out and whatever it is, it's more than I was making two minutes ago.'
Goalkeepers tend to have a longer life span than most professional athletes, but Hahnemann will be 41 at the start of next season. With the Sounders firmly entrenched with Michael Gspurning at goal, a backup role with the team very well could be the swan song for the EPL veteran. He isn't looking at it as a two month trial - but a test to see how it all goes until next year rolls around.
I hope to be around next year. We'll see how the old legs and everything goes through. I felt pretty good today, then (Babayele Sodade) was smashing goals past me at the end of training, so maybe not so good. But that's one of those things. You just keep going and we'll see where it takes us.
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