http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=312659&cc=5739 A wonderfully deceptive title, doncha think? Anything to sell magazines, er....on-line..
This all came from an interview he did in Lancashire. All the same quotes... but this one has much less info than the original piece. There are links to it in a couple other threads already... I'll see if I can post them here... if not there is one in the USA MEN forum and the USA MEN News and Analysis forums.
Links to the original interview ... http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/rovers/sport/ROVERS1.html and the other threads... https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142629 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141307
I'm a huge Friedel fan and always will be but this is not surprising at all. It's been stated before about his loyalty and devotion to Blackburn. He's shown that he's worldclass over the years and like he said the overseas traveling is starting to take its toll on him physically. I'd rather him find this out now than when it's too little too late. Friedel has represented the US both internationally and on the club scene to the fullest. I might be worried a little if we didn't have cover between this pipes but we all know that we have a luxury of talent at keeper.
I agree with your comments... up until the last line. (Ok, I said this on the other threads... but I think it bears reasking) Do we really still have a luxury of talent at keeper? While I still believe in Tim Howard and Kasey Keller... Keller is getting up there in age (he's 1.5 years older than Friedel) and has never outperformed Brad in the Premier League. Howard is younger and still going to get better, but has definitely been shaky this season and at the end of last season. Both Keller and Howard are currently backups. Keller is likely to stay that way barring injury, Howard will probably get another shot at the first team this season. In MLS we have Walker who's given up more goals than anyone else. The best keepers in MLS this year look to be Meola, Cannon, and Bush. Of those, only Meola has any real experience internationally... and he's not likely to be getting many more games... I think we could really use Brad right now.
The way I see it (and it may be different than some) is that we literally have 4-5 keeprs that i would not hesitate to put out there for the Nats. Howard, Keller, Cannon, Walker, and Hahnemann to me are all strong enough to carry the load for us. Back tracking a bit, while Keller and Howard are both riding the pine currently both are in similar position with their club team. Keller is backing up another international who's as good as it gets and keller falls in the short end of the stick. He could start for 3/4 of the EPL squads. Howard as we all know is stuggling a bit but we all have seen what's he's capable of. He's back-up and whatever you wanna call him, Carroll is in a situation similar to Keller in that he would be a starter for most any EPL team. Moving forward a bit, while all the keepers I mentioned have different skill levels they all bring something to the table. Whether it be moving quick laterally (Walker and Cannon), organization and communication like Hanhnemann, distribution like Cannon and Walker, or just pure raw talent like we see in Howard. All our pool of keppers are different in their own ways but I stick to my words that I wouldn't hesitate to put any of them out there.
I think it'd be an absolute shame if Friedel quit on the national team now. He is an unbelievable player, and was a demi-god during the World Cup. I understand all of the points he made for why he would be considering this, but, soccer is his career. He's right, Blackburn pays his wages, but the World Cup is the height of a soccer career and every player's dream is to represent their country. He has done it already, of course, but doesn't he want to go further? We were one handball call and one Oliver Kahn imperfection from a semifinal. It could well happen again, and I'd think Brad Friedel would want to be there for it in Germany. I think his family would support that as well.
You all make it sound like if its a Crisis... what if Howard gets his spot back at Man Utd or even if he does not he will still get into some other Premiership side..... Then Hanneman might get Reading Promoted this year (they are in 1st place).... now we have 2 Premier League goalkeepers. Walker lets in lots of goals but trust me the US Defence is better than the Metros D I seriously believe next World Cup we might go with Tim Howard Marcus Hanneman Johnny Walker
IMC (crazy) O, Joe Cannon is probably our best right now (if Friedel retires from international play). He's not tested, and that's an issue. But given the deterioration in Howard's form (exaggerate by some, but real nonetheless) and given Keller's play, wouldn't you pick Cannon over anyone else?* *I freely admit I am not including Marcus Hahneman in this, because we don't get to see him play. But it's clear from the match reports that he's prone to bad stretches, something I wouldn't want to risk with the Nats. We're worried about our depth because with Friedel (possibly) out of the picture, we don't have any EPL starters anymore. But Cannon is, IMO, 95% the keeper Howard was when he went to ManU and won the starting job. We'll be OK, if Bruce falls back on Joe. EDIT: I had to do something here so I opened the reply before I saw someone else give Joe some love.
And of those keepers during the next world cup Howard of course will still be relatively young for a keeper at 27, but Keller will be 36, Hahnemann will be 34, Walker will be 32, Cannon will be 31. (Friedel will be 35 by the way) I don't expect Hahnemann will get many more games, though he's been very good for Reading over the years. (I have a soft spot for the former Sounder) Walker and Cannon will be in their prime years as a keeper... lets hope they can be as good as Keller and Friedel were in their prime years. I agree we should still be solid, but I don't think we can still consider ourselves as having some of the best keepers in the world. That said, I expect (and hope) Howard to regain his form and be our #1 keeper in Germany and for years after.
I agree with this. We're still comparitively stronger at keeper than any position (though cd is getting close) but it's tough to make an argument that we have a single world beater left, and it gets much tougher if BF retires. On this, it sounds from the quotes as if BA and BF are not seeing eye to eye on his nats playing time. I assumed they must have had an agreement to get games for KK and TH, especially KK, and rest BF. If that's not the case, BF is important enough that I'd like to see him starting/sharing with TH. If keller can't find a full time starting role at his age, his international career is soon over, retirement or not.