Keith Cardona

Keith Cardona
Personnel
Surname	Keith Francis Cardona
birthday	November 7, 1992
place of birth	Glen Rock , New Jersey ,  USA
size	193 cm
position	goalkeeper
Juniors
Years	station
	Glen Rock High School
2006-2010	New York Red Bulls
2011–2012	Maryland Terrapins
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2011-2013	New York Red Bulls U-23
2014-2015	FC Liefering	0 (0)
2015–	Indy Eleven	10 (0)
2015	→  Wilmington Hammerheads  (loan)	1 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
2009	USA U-17
2010	USA U-18
1 Only league games are given. As of February 18, 2016 2 As of February 18, 2016

Keith Francis Cardona (born November 7, 1992 in Glen Rock , New Jersey ) is an American football goalkeeper who has been part of the Indy Eleven squad since 2015 and plays in the North American Soccer League , a second-rate North American professional league.

Club career

Career start

Keith Cardona was born on November 7, 1992 to Matthew and Pamela Cardona in the borough of Glen Rock, New Jersey, grew up there with his sister and began his football career at a young age. At an advanced age he continued this at Glen Rock High School , where he also appeared on the school’s own football team. As a 13-year-old he was accepted into the youth department of the major league soccer franchise New York Red Bulls , where he went through all youth divisions from U-14 to U-18. Under coach Paul O'Donnell, who has been working at the academy since 2002, when the team was still known as MetroStars , he won two national championship titles. While he was enrolled at Glen Rock High School and later professional footballers such as Dan Metzger or Kyle Roach were among his classmates, he was honored twice as NSCAA All-American and Parade All-American . During this time he also made the leap into the US U-17 and U-18 national selections , in which he was no less successful.

Transfer to the University of Maryland, College Park

After graduating from high school, Cardona began studying business and marketing at the University of Maryland, College Park , where he also appeared as a goalkeeper on the men's soccer team for the Maryland Terrapins sports division at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In his freshman year 2011, the 1.93 m tall goalkeeper played in four championship games, in all of which he guarded the goal of his team from the start. Following regular time, he was also used in the two games during the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship , where the team played after a 4-0 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second round of Regional 2 in the subsequent third round game 2: 4 against the opponents of the Louisville Cardinals and eliminated from the current tournament. Still, Casey Townsend , who scored four goals over the course of the tournament, including a hat-trick in the 4-0 win over West Virginia, was the most dangerous player in the tournament.

In his sophomore year, the sophomore year at university, Keith Cardona became the Terrapins goalkeeper and made 20 championship appearances throughout the season. Throughout the whole of the 2012 game year, he held a total of 40 shots on goal and, after winning the second, third and quarter-finals of Regional 4 of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship 2012, reached the National Semifinals of the College Cup . There the Terrapins only lost to the Georgetown Hoyas from Georgetown University on penalties and thus barely failed to make it into the final.

First appearances in men's football, legionnaire in Austria and professional debut

During his time at UMCP and shortly thereafter, Cardona appeared for the New York Red Bulls U-23 , the only amateur team of the New York Red Bulls at the time to play in the fourth-rate National Premier Soccer League . Under Bob Montgomery , he ranked at the end of the 2011 season behind Seacoast United Phantoms (NPSL) (second) and the Brooklyn Italians (first) in third place in the so-called Northeast Division - Atlantic Conference , a season of the then six-track amateur league. In the following game year, 2012 , he came with the team after eleven wins from 14 championship games on the first place of the regular season and was only eliminated after a 2-0 semi-final victory over the Morris County Colonials , in the division finals with 2: 3 against FC Sonic off. After completing his studies in 2012, Cardona remained loyal to the team in 2013 . In this he finished with the team that was still in the Northeast Division - Atlantic Conference , one of now ten parallel seasons, although a better goal difference and the same number of points only second place behind the Brooklyn Italians. Under the Englishman Simon Nee , he then entered the play-offs, but was eliminated in the first game with 1: 2 against Greater Binghamton FC .

Before the New York Red Bulls U-23 were able to win the championship title of the National Premier Soccer League the following year after twelve wins from as many games and a goal difference of 54 to 4 goals, Cardona had already made his move to Europe, where he was with FC Liefering , the farm team of the Austrian Bundesliga club FC Red Bull Salzburg , was able to play in the second-rate first division . After his change was confirmed at the beginning of July 2014, the player's registration with the association in Austria did not follow until July 17, 2014, one day before the start of the Austrian football championship 2014/15 in the Austrian second division. During a trial session in Austria in June of the same year, he beat his teammate Santiago Castaño , who was also trying to get a place in Liefering. In the team he came as number four behind regular Fabian Bredlow (29 league appearances) and his substitutes Lawrence Ati Zigi (six league appearances) and Michael Höfler (three league appearances) not to the desired breakthrough and only sat once, with a 1-1 Away draw against Floridsdorfer AC on September 19, 2016, without being used on the bench.

At the end of March 2015, Keith Cardona returned to the United States, where he was signed by the North American Soccer League franchise Indy Eleven . After he was not in the squad of the second division team in the first two league games, he sat on the bench for the first time in a 2-1 away win over the San Antonio Scorpions on April 18, 2015 . Subsequently, he was present at every championship game throughout the 2015 season , either on the field or on the bench. He was used against the Jacksonville Armada on May 9, 2015 under Juergen Sommer for the first time over the full game and at the same time made his professional debut as a football player. After he was also used in the following game, he was not used for three months, was briefly loaned to the USL franchise Wilmington Hammerheads and was again a starter in the Indianapolis team from the beginning of September . With the exception of three league games, he did not give up this position as a regular goalkeeper until the end of the season on November 1, 2015. In the sometimes quite dense overall table, consisting of the ten games spring season and the 20 game autumn season, he finally ranked ninth out of eleven places with Indy Eleven. With the Wilmington Hammerheads in the North American third division, he had a three-week loan contract from June 16 to July 5; During this time he completed a game for the team over the full 90 minutes, a 0-0 draw against the Richmond Kickers .

National team career

Cardona gained his first international experience while he was still in high school, when he was called up for the first time in the US U-17 national team in May 2009 . With this he also took part in the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria under Wilmer Cabrera , but was not used himself and was only the third goalkeeper behind Earl Edwards junior (first) and Spencer Richey (second). After he was used in various U-17 international matches, he was also appointed to the U-18 team in his home country for the first time in 2010 , but was unable to record any notable appearances as a regular here either.

successes

with the New York Red Bulls U-23

• Master the regular season of Northeast Division - Atlantic Conference of the National Premier Soccer League : 2012

Web links

• Keith Cardona on the official Maryland Terrapins website
• Keith Cardona on the official website of Indy Eleven
• Keith Cardona on the official website of the US Football Association (English)
• Keith Cardona in the soccerway.com database
• Keith Cardona in the database of transfermarkt.de

Footnotes & individual references

1. ↑ Keith Cardona on the official website of the National Premier Soccer League  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed February 18, 2016  
2. ↑ After up-and-down nine months, Keith Cardona proving his worth in goal for Terps ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed February 18, 2016 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Red Bull Academy product Keith Cardona beats out Castano, signs with RB Liefering (English), accessed on February 18, 2016
4. ↑ Keith Cardona on fussballoesterreich.at , accessed on February 19, 2016
5. ↑ INDY INKS GOALKEEPER DUO ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed February 18, 2016 
6. ^ New York Red Bulls' academy alum Keith Cardona signs for NASL's Indy Eleven , accessed February 18, 2016
7. ↑ San Antonio Scorpions - Indy Eleven (1: 2) ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed February 18, 2016 
8. ↑ Jacksonville Armada FC - Indy Eleven (1: 0) ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed February 18, 2016 
9. ↑ Development Academy Select Teams to Face US U-17 Men's National Team During spring Showcase in Sarasota, Fla. (English), accessed February 18, 2016
10. ↑ US U-17 MNT Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera Announces 21-Player Roster for FIFA U-17 World Cup , accessed on February 18, 2016