Americans Abroad

On separate continents in disparate leagues, American goalkeepers shine in shutouts.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
and Gary Davidson (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Monday, March 17, 2003) -- Powerful Arsenal rolled into Ewood Park, undefeated in 12 matches and sitting in first place in its effort to repeat as England Premier League champion.

What the visiting Gunners ran into was American Brad Friedel, the hottest goalkeeper in the EPL who posted another clean sheet as Blackburn Rovers prevailed 2-0 before 29,840 fans.

Friedel set the tone early when he somehow got to Thierry Henry's perfectly-placed, curving, 25 yard free kick, a save few keepers could have managed. Later, Henry set up Freddie Ljungberg, but Freidel parried away the strong shot.

It was the second straight shutout for Friedel and his 11th of the season for Rovers who stand seventh at 12-8-10 with 46 points. Arsenal (19-5-6, 63 points) had gone 8-0-4 since its last loss in league play, a 2-0 setback to Manchester United on December 7, and marks the first time in three years the Gunners have been beaten twice by a team in the same year. Rovers hadn't swept the season's series with Arsenal since 1992-93, the year the Premier League debuted.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did sit out stars Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell ahead of Wednesday's crucial Champions League match against Valencia in Spain.

Jonny Walker has made a big impression in goal in two matches for Colo Colo since returning to Chile-- Photo by Las Ultimas Noticias --

It wasn't exactly the Premier League, but American keeper Jonny Walker is back in Chile and was brilliant -- earning "Man of the Match" honors -- leading his new team, Colo Colo, to a 0-0 draw with Universidad de Chile in front of 55,000 fans in Estadio Nacional, in the 147th "Superclassico," the Santiago hometown derby, considered the biggest league match of the year.

It was a brutal match which saw both sides reduced to 10 men. Universidad's Colombian great Faustino Asprilla went out in the 43rd minute following a pair of controversial yellow cards, and Colo Colo's Argentinian midfielder Marcelo Espina was issued a red card near the end.

Walker was at the top of his game from the opening whistle. In the first 11 minutes, he stopped Mauricio Donoso twice. In the 21st minute, he stopped a shot from Renzo Yanez and, in the 59th, controlled another blast by Yanez. A minute, later he stoned Mauricio Pinilla and, in the 76th, pushed aside a free kick from Juan Pablo Raponi.

Walker saved the best for last, turning aside a low drive by Nelson Pinto in the 85th minute.

Walker left Chile's Universidad Católica after last season, but after a flirtation and nearly signing a contract with Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes and a trip to Europe seeking employment, Walker returned to the nation where he's been a standout.

Back in England's Premier League, United States keeper Kasey Keller gave up three goals and Tottenham Hotspur fell 3-2 to Liverpool on Sunday. Keller was beaten in the second half by the high-powered trio of Michael Owen (51st minute), Emile Heskey (72nd) and Steven Gerrard (82nd), all three more the result of lax defending then goalkeeping errors.

On the first, Spurs striker Teddy Sheringham lost possession on his left flank. Gerrard picked up the ball and sent a perfect low cross to Owen who slid in to convert at the far post. As Spurs struggled to equalize, it was again Gerrard who took a pass from Jamie Carragher, beat two defenders and chipped a perfect far-post cross for Heskey to head into an unguarded net. Then it was Gerrard who sprinted past three Spurs to deliver a blast past Keller into the top corner

U.S. striker Brian McBride played the first 55 minutes Saturday for Everton which produced an anemic effort at home, drawing 0-0 with West Ham before 40,158 at Goodison Park. Everton generated little or no offense during the first half and came out after intermission in similar fashion. Then, Blues manager David Moyes substituted three players into the attack in the 55th minute, including young star Wayne Rooney for McBride who had received virtually no service.

Moyes confirmed on Friday that Everton has begun discussions with Major League Soccer to extend McBride's loan from the Columbus Crew until the end of the Premiership season in May. If the extension is not arranged, Saturday's game against West Ham would be McBride's last appearance before the appreciative home fans with Sunday's visit to Arsenal his last game.

Columbus opens the MLS season against the Los Angeles Galaxy on April 5. Everton (14-8-8, 50) is fifth in the EPL.

Moyes said he was interested in a full transfer acquisition of McBride, but given McBride's age -- 30 -- was not inclined to spend a fortune to get him.

"Brian has done very well for us and we believe he would be a good acquisition to our squad," Moyes said. "But because of Brian's age -- and I have spoken to Brian about this -- I don't want to spend too much money on bringing him here. But I am also very aware that he has played a big part in what we have done in the last couple of months."

MLS has no comment at the moment.

U.S. striker Jovan Kirovski did not dress for Birmingham City which was blanked by Manchester City 1-0. He continues to start reserve team matches, including last week's 3-2 loss to Bolton Wanderers in which he and former Columbus forward Stern John had chances, but neither could finish.

Sunderland's relegation from the Premiership to First Division is just about complete with new coach Mick McCarthy's debut a fizzle with a 2-0 home loss to Bolton.

U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna, whose season-ending knee injury October 28 was a key factor in Sunderland's demise, welcomed the change to former Ireland manager McCarthy, saying that his no-nonsense approach is what the club needs. Rehabilitating in California, Reyna said ousted manager Howard Wilkinson was simply too nice a guy to handle Sunderland.

"He was very much of the old school," Reyna told Sky Sports. "There were too many meetings, the players were bored a lot and a he spoke quite a bit. But I think his departure was disappointing. He came into a difficult situation and it was hard to turn things around."

Sunderland (4-19-7, 19 points) is last in the 20-team EPL, 10 points from escaping the relegation zone with eight matches left.

Reading is one team striving to climb into the Premier League from the First Division with American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann leading the way. Reading (20-13-4, 64) is in third place and destined to participate in a four-club playoff for the third promotion spot. Portsmouth (23-4-10, 79) and Leicester (20-5-11, 71) appear on their way to wrapping up the two automatic promotion slots.

James Harper's goal in stoppage time and Hahnemann's work in net were key to edging visiting Crystal Palace 2-1 before 18,063 at Madejski Stadium.

Hahnemann kept the match scoreless in the first half with several good saves, including turning away well-taken shots from Tony Popovic and Shaun Derry. Reading went ahead 1-0 on Steve Brown's tally in the 66th minute, but there was little Hahnemann could do with a Andrew Johnson blast 10 minutes later.

Leicester snapped a streak of three straight draws Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Preston North End which fell despite going up 1-0 in the 20th minute on a spectacular long free kick from U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis.

Leicester prevailed on goals by Brian Deane in the 43rd and 56th minutes. Preston (12-12-11, 47) is in a five-way tie for 13th place, 12 points and seven spots below the promotion playoff, meaning another season in the First Division is almost certain.

After missing most of the season with an Achilles heel injury, O'Brien now appears to be in fine form, defending well and pushing the ball forward for Ajax (17-2-5, 56) which won its third straight and trails PSV (20-1-3) by seven points.

Ajax, however, has more immediate worries with a trip to Italy to play AS Roma (1-3-1, 4) Wednesday with a berth in the Champions League quarterfinals at stake. A victory or draw will ensure that Ajax (1-0-4, 7) will be one of two clubs to advance from Second Phase Group B with Arsenal (1-0-4, 7) meeting Valencia (1-1-3, 6) in the other in the other group match. Ajax could even advance with a loss.

Cottbus (6-14-5, 23) is in last place as facing relegation with 12 of its players -- including Berhalter - on contracts that run out at season's end.

It was not a good weekend for U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96 either. After coming up empty on an early penalty kick, Hannover went down 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund. Cherundolo played a decent match, but came off in the 65th minute in favor of an attacking midfielder.

U.S. defender Tony Sanneh continues his rehabilitation from back surgery and was not dressed for FC Nürnberg which was shut out for the second week in a row, 3-0 by Hertha Berlin.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com. Gary Davidson is a SoccerTimes managing editor and can be e-mailed at editor@soccertimes.com.