Brad Friedel

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Brad Friedel
Personal information
Full name	Bradley Howard Freidel
Date of birth	May 18, 1971 (age 35)
Place of birth	Lakewood, Ohio, USA
Height	1.93 m
Position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Blackburn Rovers
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1994 1995 1995-1997 1997-2000 2000-	Brøndby IF Galatasaray Columbus Crew Liverpool Blackburn Rovers	10 (0) 15 (0) 38 (0) 25 (0) 223 (1)
National team**
1992-2005	United States	82 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 June 06. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 27 June 06.

Bradley ("Brad") Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971 in Lakewood, Ohio) is an American international football (soccer) goalkeeper who plays for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League. He played 82 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country at three FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Friedel at the age of 35 still remains a formidable barrier to any unfortunate attack. Manchester United's Ole Gunnar Solskjær once described him after a game against Rovers as a "Brick Wall" as he single-handedly kept Manchester United at bay.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Personal 4 Honours 5 External links

[edit] Club career

Friedel studied at UCLA (where he was a NCAA champion in 1990 and won the Hermann Trophy in 1992) and has was then contracted to Danish side Brøndby IF in 1994. Due to his American nationality, Friedel had problems securing a work permit to play in England on several occasions; this caused moves to Newcastle and Sunderland to fall through. With the Sunderland deal falling through, he signed for leading Turkish team Galatasaray in 1995, who were managed by Friedel's future Blackburn manager Graeme Souness. He moved to the Columbus Crew of MLS in 1997, and on to English club Liverpool in 1998. At Liverpool he had a terrible time, managing just over 30 games in almost three years.

In November 2000, he was signed to Blackburn Rovers by Graeme Souness on a free transfer after a work permit was secured. He has had extremely consistent performances ever since joining during Rovers' promotion winning 2000-01 season. His assured performances meant Blackburn rejoined the Premiership. He is also a respectable person off the pitch and is the person many members of the Blackburn squad turn to for advice.

Memorable performances in goal for Blackburn include playing against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup Final in 2002. He was named Man of the Match after a string of incredible saves, a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Highbury in late 2002 when he made several immense saves. He was only beaten by a deflected free kick but his phenomenal performance ensured Rovers held out for a surprise win and a 2-1 win against Fulham in the same season when he saved a penalty kick amongst many other challenging shots; A defeat against Charlton in 2004 when he famously scored (and produced some stunning saves).

At the end of the 2002-03 season, Friedel was selected for the Premiership Starting XI for the 15 clean sheets he kept, earning himself the Blackburn Player of the Year award as well. On February 21, 2004, in an away game against Charlton Athletic where Blackburn Rovers where defeated 3-2, Friedel scored a goal from open play in the 90th minute, a rare occurrence for a goalkeeper.

On September 9, 2006, Blackburn Rovers were playing an away game against Sheffield United in the Barclays Premier League and Friedel saved 2 penalties in this game also pulling off a string of saves, and the game finished up 0-0, with Friedel been handed the Man Of The Match award for one of the best performances of his career. The only games he has missed in the last 5 years have been down to injury and when he had to link up with the US squad for the 2002 Football World Cup (Rovers had already avoided relegation).

[edit] International career

Friedel is the third most-capped goalkeeper in U.S. national team history and gained his first international cap against Canada in 1992, in which game he managed to keep a clean sheet. He was the first choice goalkeeper for the U.S 1992 Olympic team; however, he was unable to beat out Tony Meola as first choice keeper for the U.S. team at the 1994 World Cup. His chance came, and Friedel made his World Cup debut in the 1998 World Cup where he conceded one goal as the U.S. lost to Yugoslavia. He lived up to his growing reputation in the 2002 World Cup as the U.S. went on a surprising run to the quarterfinals, which included a 3-2 defeat of Portugal in group play and a 2-0 second-round win over archrival Mexico before a loss to Germany (the eventual runner-up). He also became the first keeper to save two penalty kicks during regular play (as opposed to penalty shootouts) in a World Cup finals tournament since 1974. He was dubbed "The Human Wall" by fans during the spectacular 2002 World Cup run.

On February 7, 2005, Friedel announced his retirement from international football. Soon therafter, he signed a new contract to finish his Premier League career with the Rovers. He is also breaking ground in 2006 on his dream project, Premier Soccer Academies, a US10,000,000 project that will emulate player development facilities found worldwide, but in the United States. The mission of Premier Soccer Academies is to provide athletes with world-class coaching and facilities regardless of their socioeconomic background. It will be located in Lorain, Ohio.

[edit] Personal

Friedel grew up in Bay Village, Ohio, where he attended Westerly Elementary School, Bay Middle School and Bay High School. Growing up, Friedel played several sports, including soccer, basketball and tennis and excelled in all three sports. He earned Bay High's Outstanding Athlete of the Year award in 1989. As an All-State basketball player in Ohio, he was invited to try out as a walk-on for UCLA's basketball team in 1990. Friedel graduated from Bay High in 1989. His mother, Sue Friedel, was adviser to the high school girls' kick and flag lines, the Rockettes and Junior Rockettes.

[edit] Honours

• NCAA Champion 1990 with UCLA
• MLS Goalkeeper of the Year - 1997
• Bronze medal at 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup with the U.S.
• Won Football League Cup in 2001/02 with Blackburn
• U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year - 2002
• Member of the 2002/03 PFA Premiership XI

[edit] External links

• Brad Friedel articles on Yanks Abroad
• Brad Friedel career stats at Soccerbase
• Friedel's U.S. development facility

	United States squad - 1994 World Cup
1 Meola | 2 Lapper | 3 Burns | 4 Kooiman | 5 Dooley | 6 Harkes | 7 Perez | 8 Stewart | 9 Ramos | 10 Wegerle | 11 Wynalda | 12 Sommer | 13 Jones | 14 Klopas | 15 Moore | 16 Sorber | 17 Balboa | 18 Friedel | 19 Reyna | 20 Caligiuri | 21 Clavijo | 22 Lalas | Coach: Milutinović

	United States squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Friedel | 2 Hejduk | 3 Pope | 4 Burns | 5 Dooley | 6 Regis | 7 Wegerle | 8 Stewart | 9 Moore | 10 Ramos | 11 Wynalda | 12 Agoos | 13 Jones | 14 Preki | 15 Deering | 16 Sommer | 17 Balboa | 18 Keller | 19 Maisonneuve | 20 McBride | 21 Reyna | 22 Lalas | Coach: Sampson

	United States squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Friedel | 2 Hejduk | 3 Berhalter | 4 Mastroeni | 5 O'Brien | 6 Regis | 7 Lewis | 8 Stewart | 9 Moore | 10 Reyna | 11 Mathis | 12 Agoos | 13 Jones | 14 Cherundolo | 15 Wolff | 16 Llamosa | 17 Beasley | 18 Keller | 19 Meola | 20 McBride | 21 Donovan | 22 Sanneh | 23 Pope | Coach: Arena

Blackburn Rovers F.C. - Current Squad
1 Friedel | 2 Neill | 3 Khizanishvili | 4 Todd | 5 Tugay | 6 Nelsen | 7 Emerton | 8 Savage | 9 Nonda | 10 McCarthy | 11 Bentley | 12 Gamst Pedersen | 13 Enckelman | 14 Reid | 15 Mokoena | 16 Henchoz | 17 Jeffers | 18 Gallagher | 20 Ooijer | 21 Matteo | 23 Brown | 24 McEveley | 26 Taylor | 27 Derbyshire | 29 Treacy | 30 Roberts | 31 Peter | 32 Nolan | 33 Gray | Manager: Hughes