Marcus Hahnemann life and biography

Marcus Stephan Hahnemann (born June 15, 1972) is an American soccer player who plays for English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Career

Hahnemann grew up in the Seattle area and attended Kentridge High School where he was named the team's MVP his junior season. He transferred to Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington for his senior season. That year, he kept eleven clean sheets en route to being named the All-King County goalkeeper.

He played college soccer for the Seattle Pacific University Falcons. A Division II powerhouse, Hahnemann led SPU to the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1993. Over his four seasons at SPU, Hahnemann had a 64–9–5 record as a starter, with forty-six career clean sheets.

Hahnemann's professional career started when he signed with the Seattle Sounders of the A-League on 1 May 1994. In his first season with the Sounders, Hahnemann registered a .57 GAA in fourteen games to take the league's top goalkeeper honors. In 1995, he played twenty-nine games as the Sounders won the league championship. In 1996, the Sounders repeated as champions while Hahnemann kept eleven clean sheets and made 119 saves.

He waited until 1997 to join Major League Soccer (MLS), signing with the Colorado Rapids. In his first season in MLS, the Rapids went all the way to the MLS Cup before losing 2–1 to D.C. United. During his second season, he set a club record for the most games and minutes played in a single season by a goalkeeper, playing 2,520 minutes in 28 games and compiling a 16–12 record, and was named their Defender of the Year.

After two and a half seasons with the Colorado Rapids, he signed with English First Division club Fulham, for £80,000 in June 1999. He failed to displace Maik Taylor in goal though, and only made four appearances in total for the London club (all during their promotion season of 2000–01).

With Edwin van der Sar signed upon promotion by Fulham, Hahnemann slipped further down the pecking order and to gain playing time, he was loaned out to lower league sides Rochdale, and then, Reading during the 2001–02 campaign. He made six appearances for the latter as part of their promotion from the third tier.

Hahnemann then joined Reading permanently in Summer 2002 on a free transfer, becoming their first choice 'keeper. His first full season with the Royals saw them miss out on promotion to the Premier League in the play-offs, before two successive seasons saw them narrowly fall short of further play-off finishes.

He missed just one game of the 2005–06 season that saw Reading win promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history, as they topped the Championship with a record 106 points. He was named in that season's Championship Team of the Year by the Professional Footballers' Association.

His first season in the Premier League saw him keep thirteen clean sheets as the club finished eighth, only one place short of European. He made the most saves (139) in the Premier League during 2007, but could not halt relegation in their second EPL campaign.

He remained with the club for one further season as they attempted an immediate return back to the top level, but Reading ultimately lost out to Burnley in the play-off semi finals. Subsequently Reading announced that they would not renew Hahnemann's contract making him a free agent.

On June 17, 2009, Hahnemann signed a one-year contract with newly promoted Premier League side Wolves. He was back-up to first-choice Wayne Hennessey, until Hennessey conceded four goals in two games and lost his place to Hahnemann. Since then, following some impressive performances, Hahnemann has become manager Mick McCarthy's first choice keeper. He helped the club attain survival and was rewarded with a one-year contract extension.

Hahnemann made his international debut for the United States national team on November 19, 1994, in a 0–1 friendly defeat to Trinidad and Tobago.

After earning three caps inside a month, he did not feature for the side after the end of 1994 until playing a friendly in June 2003, shortly before the Confederations Cup, for which he was selected.

He won two further caps during 2005 and was then picked for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and allocated shirt number 19, but was an unused substitute in all of the United States' matches behind Kasey Keller and Tim Howard as they exited at the group stage.

On May 11, 2010, Hahnemann was named by coach Bob Bradley to the United States' 2010 World Cup squad.

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