Reading have one fixture left this season to complete a remarkable double. The Royals have already clocked up 103 points and are three strikes short of completing a century of goals as well. Steve Coppell's men have been relentless in their quest for glory, but it hasn't just been about the goalscorers. Marcus Hahnemann, who this season signed up with the PFA's Player Management Agency, has been in inspirational form between the sticks and hopes it will culminate in a World Cup adventure this summer. The 33-year-old is awaiting the call from manager Bruce Arena to represent the USA in this summer's football extravaganza. However, as Hahnemann told givemefootball's Ian Clarkson in an exclusive interview, it has been one long celebration all season.
Q:HOW DID IT FEEL TO BE SELCTED IN THE PFA DIVISIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR BY YOUR PEERS?
A:It is unbelievable. Out of all the awards you can get this is the most meaningful. A lot of the times in the USA we have all-star teams, which is the same as this, but it isn't always done by your peers. It is sometimes done by the press, so this makes this much more meaningful.
Q:READING HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLE THIS SEASON HAVEN'T YOU?
A:That's the half of it. The team were awesome this year. We didn't expect that at the start of the season – no way. I knew we had a good team but this league is so difficult. We expected that promotion was the ultimate goal. However, the manner in which it has been achieved is the incredible thing.
Q:IT CAPS OFF A GREAT SEASON FOR YOU DOESN'T IT?
A:The culmination of getting to the Premier League and this award, as well as the chance for me to go the World Cup this summer is unbelievable. Hopefully I can go (to Germany). It has been unbelievable and if you were going to dream something up at the beginning of the year you wouldn't even come close to this.
Q:WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF YOU BEING IN THE USA SQUAD THIS SUMMER?
A:Brad (Freidel) retired last year. We've got Kasey Keller and Tim Howard who had been keeping me out of the team. I played a few games in 1994-95 and then I didn't see the team until 2005 when I came to Reading. That is one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Reading and I wanted to play. The chance they took with me a little bit has developed.
Q:IS STEVE COPPELL LIKE HIS MEDIA IMAGE?
A:The media perception of him is that he is dour and boring. That's what everyone says but it isn't true. He is a bit quiet. He took a lot of pressure off us his year. He never talked about promotion this year and he was always saying to the press 'oh we're just worried about next week's game; we're not there yet etc'. Even in March he wasn't talking about it and we kept our focus. All the press were saying he was boring but he took a ton of pressure off us.
Q:SO YOU ARE A CONFIRMED COPPELL FAN THEN?
A:Everywhere else you were looking everyone was saying 'you guys are up already'. The bookies stopped taking bets on us in February and that's a lot of pressure and if your manager starts talking about how great you are it makes it a lot more difficult for us. He was definitely the driving force behind our success this season.
