Rob Friend to Heerenveen?

I could be totally off base here but I've put this through a translator and pending proper translation from somebody does it say Rob Friend has signed with Heerenveen?

sc Heerenveen zoekt het in Canada
31 maart 2006
http://www.sc-heerenveen.nl/web/show/id=42457/contentid=3224

sc Heerenveen heeft deze week Will Johnson vastgelegd. Johnson is 19 jaar en afkomstig van de Amerikaanse club Chicago Fire, uitkomend in de Major League Soccer. Johnson is een snelle, multifunctionele aanvaller, die op alle posities voorin uit de voeten kan. Hij geldt in eigen land als een groot talent en is een vaste waarde in Canada U 21. Ondanks zijn jeugdige leeftijd heeft hij ook drie A-interlands achter zijn naam staan.

Johnson werkte de laatste weken een oefenstage af op voorspraak van Heerenveen-speler Michael Bradley, die hem van de MLS kende. Johnson heeft een contract getekend voor één seizoen met daarin een optie voor de club om het contract met nog eens twee seizoenen te verlengen.

sc Heerenveen heeft daarnaast overeenstemming bereikt met de Canadese international Rob Friend. Friend geldt als de vast spits van het Canadese nationale team en komt op dit moment uit voor het Noorse Molde FK, de club van Daniel Berg Hestad. Ook met zijn club bestaat overeenstemming over de transfersom.

De Canadees, 25 jaar oud, 1.93 meter en kopsterk, scoorde vorig seizoen 11 maal voor Molde. Rob Friend kwam tot dusverre 6 maal uit voor zijn land. Hij kwam in 2003 naar Noorwegen om voor het Noorse Moss uit te komen. Molde nam hem in 2004 over. In Amerika speelde hij voor de University of California. Friend wordt vandaag medisch gekeurd en zal bij goedkeuring een contract voor vier jaar tekenen met een optie voor de club om het contract met één jaar te verlengen.

This is totally mental. Someone at the Dutch forum translated this for me after I put it through an online translator and it looks like Friend has signed a four year deal pending his medical.

This is probably the greatest Canadian signing day in history. Looks like three Canadians have signed with top tier Dutch clubs in one day.

 

Rob Friend to Heerenveen

Confirmation from Molde in Norwegian
http://www.moldefk.no/Modules/News/showArticle.asp?level=4209&modid=4209&lngNewsID=14927

What a day! Johnson and Friend to Heerenveen and de Jong to Roda. Boy if some guys only knew where we were seven years ago getting excited because Paul Stalteri was on the reserves of a Big Four club and Jason DeVos actually made the Scottish Premier Division.

Times change.

 

Friend/Johnson signing at Heerenveen


Will Johnson signing at Heerenveen


Rob Friend signing with Heerenveen

http://www.sc-heerenveen.nl/web/show/id=42457/contentid=3224

 

Kelowna’s Rob Friend is Climbing Pro Soccer’s Ladder

Tks to Winnipeg Fury at Vs for headsup

Kelowna’s Rob Friend is climbing pro soccer’s ladder
Kelowna Capital News
Apr 21 2006
http://kelownacapnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=113&cat=40&id=633659&more=


Scanpix/contributor
Kelowna’s Rob Friend will play the 2006-07 soccer season in Heerenveen, Holland. The 25-year-old striker recently signed a five-year deal with the Dutch premier league team.

Two million Euros: Rob Friend is humbled that his soccer talents would warrant such an extravagant asking price.

More than 2.7 million Canadian dollars is just what Heerenveen of the Dutch premier league was willing to pay the Molde, Norway football club to acquire the services of the hard-nosed, 6 foot 4 striker from Kelowna.

“It’s still kind of hard to believe it,” said Friend, 25, from his home in Norway this week.

“It seems like a crazy amount of money for one player, but that’s the way the business is. They thought enough of me to spend that, now I need to face up to the challenge and repay them on the field.”

When Friend signed his name to a four-year contract—with a team option for a fifth—last month with Heerenveen, it marked yet another dramatic step in his evolution on the soccer pitch.

Heerenveen—a city of about 30,000—is traditionally one of the top teams in Holland’s elite men’s league with a history of producing star players and household names in Europe such as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jon Dahl Tomasson.

The crowds are big, the money is good, and the soccer is just a step away from the big time—the premier leagues in England, Italy, Spain and Germany.
In Heerenveen—smack dab in the middle of soccer country—the team regularly sells out its 21,000-seat stadium.

And with an expansion project underway to push capacity to 27,000, Friend will find himself in a much broader spotlight than ever before on the pitch.
To Friend, none of it seemed a likely scenario even as recently as four or five years ago.

“It’s funny, when I started playing at Western Michigan (1999-2000) I hadn’t even planned on playing professional,” he said. “Things just started happening for me after that…I made all-American at Santa Barbara, just kept working hard and the opportunities came.

"I’ve been blessed and I feel pretty lucky to be where I am right now.”
After 1 1/2 seasons in Moss, Norway to launch his pro career, Friend jumped to Molde in 2004—the Norwegian premier league—where he quickly became one of the club’s most productive and reliable players.

Last year, Friend established himself as a force in Norway scoring 13 goals in 26 games, while playing an instrumental role in Molde winning the national championship. Edit: Cup title not national title

Heerenveen—traditionally one of the top four or five clubs in Holland—was in need of a striker, liked what they saw in Friend, and were quick to knock on Molde’s door.

And the Dutch premier club isn’t the only team taking a profound interest in his talents these days.

Frank Yallop and the Canadian men’s squad have summoned the services of Friend twice in the last two months, including playing his sixth cap at the beginning of March in Austria.

And while the national program and wearing red-and-white remains on his radar screen, Friend will be focusing his attention predominantly on satisfying his newest employer.

“It’s always something you strive for, to play for your country and I think with all the talent we have right now, it’s going to be a strong next few years for Canada.

"But at the end of the day, it’s the club that’s paying me I need to be committed to. As long as I’m playing well for them, scoring some goals and doing my job, the national team will come.”

Friend will finish out his commitment to Molde this July before joining Heerenveen for the start of the new season in August.

As for the next big step in his soccer career, Friend will try to meet it like every other challenge that has come his way in the past—head on.

“Of course it’s going to be harder and there’s going to be pressure. But I have to face up to it and do the job. I have an opportunity to play four or five years here and I think I have at least that much soccer left in me.

“Of course my goal eventually is to get to the Premier League maybe in England, or in Germany. But right now, I have to make sure to prove myself at this level.”