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In conversation with U.S. soccer legend Brad Friedel – part 2

By Jocelyn Taub

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 06: Brad Friedel the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper organises his defence during the Barclays Premier League match between Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage on November 6, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 06: Brad Friedel the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper organises his defence during the Barclays Premier League match between Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage on November 6, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) /
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Former U.S. Men’s National Team goalkeeper Brad Friedel looks back on his career

I recently had the chance to speak with retired goalkeeper Brad Friedel during the recent Gold Cup tournament. In part one of our interview Friedel discussed his involvement with Allstate and his early career.

After playing with Galatasary and the Columbus Crew from 1995-1997, Friedel finally got the chance to move to England.

On December 23, 1997, Liverpool gained a work permit for Friedel. He made his debut against Aston Villa on February 28, 1998. Three years later he signed with Blackburn and reunited with his former Galatasaray manager Graeme Souness.

Friedel spent the bulk of his Premier League career with Blackburn making 287 appearances.

While Friedel had been denied work permits four times earlier he explained that, “The start of the European Union allowed for a lot more foreign players to go in to the Premier League.”

These days he has dual citizenship and holds a UK passport.

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When asked about his fondest memories from the Premier League Friedel said: “I think when the English people stopped viewing me as a foreigner was a pretty special moment because as a young American going over there they didn’t want to accept us as soccer players at all.”

Friedel is the current record holder for the most consecutive EPL matches at 310. He stated: “That will be a tough record to break. I can only really see a goalkeeper being able to do it.” He explained that outfield players are more susceptible to injuries and therefore are less likely to play consistently.

The arrival of Hugo Lloris at Tottenham led to the end of Friedel’s consecutive games streak

Friedel’s streak ended when Hugo Lloris was put in goal for Spurs in October 2012. When asked how he felt about that he said:

"You’re never happy when you get dropped. When I signed at Tottenham I signed a two-year contract and I knew for the first year that I would be playing and the second year they’d be looking for a long-term number one. I was under no illusion that at 40 and then 41 years of age, I was the long-term solution. By the time they got the transfer done for Hugo I had already started the season and I was playing well so AVB (manager Andre Villa-Boas) couldn’t really drop me. He started getting a lot of pressure from the French Federation and some club board members as he was France’s captain."

Friedel accomplished a rare feat for keepers when he scored a game tying goal from a corner kick at Charlton in February 2004. Charlton came back to score a late winner so Friedel doesn’t talk about his goal too often. “If we had actually gotten the point I’d speak about it.”

How did Friedel know when it was time to end his playing career?

When asked about his decision to retire at the end of the 2014-15 season Friedel explained, “when I signed at Tottenham I also starting doing my coaching badges all while I was playing. So I would train and then go coach at Tottenham’s academy. That started to be the next chapter in my life.”

Friedel has done radio and TV work in the UK and is currently under contract with FOX in the states. He is currently the head coach for the U.S. under 19’s.

Friedel started planning for his future many years before he retired.

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“I saw a lot of my friends retire over the years and not really know what they were going to do”

When asked about his favorite memories from his time with the national team Friedel said he had two.

"The first time you put on the shirt, your first cap. That’s a pretty special time and our entire run in the 2002 World Cup. We had a very good team, a very good qualifying campaign and then rolled that in to 2002 World Cup. We finished in the quarterfinals and were arguably the better team against Germany so it was disappointing that we got knocked out but that whole cycle from 1998-2002 was a pretty special time."

Wrapping up our discussion I asked Friedel to compare the state of soccer from when he started out to now.

"If I go back to 1992 and then fast forward to today you can’t recognize the state of soccer in the U.S. Everything has advanced and it still needs to keep advancing. You can’t recognize the landscape. Where we are today it’s a wonderful thing. We still have a way to go but we’re improving that every single day."

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