Bröndby IF (Denmark),
Galatasaray (Turkey), Colombus Crew (MLS - USA), Liverpool (England),
Blackburn Rovers (England)
Honours
NCAA Champion 1990
with UCLA
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year - 1997
Bronze medal at 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup with the U.S
Won Worthington Cup in 2001/02 with Blackburn
U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year - 2002
Member of the 2002/03 PFA Premiership XI
Biography
Brad Friedel (born May 18, 1971 in Lakewood, Ohio) is an
American international football (soccer) goalkeeper currently
playing for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League.
Club career
Friedel studied at UCLA (where he was a NCAA champion in 1990
and won the Hermann Trophy in 1992) and has been contracted to
Danish side Brøndby, Turkish power Galatasaray, the Columbus
Crew of MLS, and Liverpool. At Liverpool he had a terrible time
managing just over 30 games in almost three years. In 2000 he
was signed to Blackburn Rovers by Graeme Souness on a free
transfer after a work permit was secured. Due to his American
nationality, Friedel has had problems securing a work permit to
play in England on several occasions; this caused a move to
Newcastle to fall through in 1995. Friedel is currently the
first choice goal keeper at Blackburn and is regarded as one of
the best keepers in the league.
International career
Friedel is the second most-capped goalkeeper in U.S. national
team history and gained his first international cap against
Canada in 1992 in which he managed to keep a clean sheet. He was
the first choice goal keeper 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. However his
chance came, and Friedel made his World Cup debut in France '98
where he conceded one goal as the U.S. lost to Yugoslavia. He
lived up to his growing reputation in Korea and Japan 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 soccer.
