Mad Brit Diary

Brits go nutty for their football and American keepers.

(Friday, April 30, 2004) -- They may have mangled accents and love their greasy food and mushy peas, but those nutty Brits certainly know their soccer -- most of the time.

For the second year in a row, the Professional Footballer's Association has voted an American as the top goalkeeper in the Premier League. Last year, it was Brad "I Sound Almost English" Friedel of Blackburn Rovers, and this year in was Manchester United's new kid, Tim Howard, winning the honor.

Howard certainly deserved it and we're all hoping that the New Jersey lad will be in net May 22 for the FA Cup against Millwall. Howard earned his salary this season with some brave displays and all has been forgiven for the heartbreaking Champions League free-kick blunder that sent United crashing out of the competition,

Once upon a time, the Brits had some very good goalies. Remember Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence and David Seaman? Now, the top echelons of English soccer are flooded with keepers from overseas, including a handful of very good Americans. The Mad Brit never imagined David James would be in the goal for England, but that's what it's come to, folks. James is a good player, but it's like watching George W. Bush at a press conference -- it's always a little unpredictable.

Banks was the kind of goalie that left the world's greatest players, such as Pele, shaking their heads in disbelief. Shilton's work habits were amazing, as were Seaman's. With a back-log of talented keepers in line for the United States national, up- and-coming keepers in the U.S. might think of trying to get a British passport. There's worse things than being a Mad Brit betwen the posts.

Here's the EPL team of the season - Goalkeeper: Tim Howard (Manchester United); Defenders: Lauren (Arsenal), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), John Terry (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Arsenal); Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Robert Pires (Arsenal), Patrick Vieira (Arsenal); Forwards: Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United).

So is American sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer seeking to take over Manchester United? The question won't go away after Glazer this week bought another 4.1 million Man. U. shares, increasing his shareholding from 16.69 to 18.25 percent.

The 75-year-old, who owns the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has denied in the pastthat he wants to run the club, but it certainly looks like the Mad Yank wants his big foot in the soccer world.

The biggest shareholders in Manchester United are Irish businessmen John Magnier and J.P. McManus, who own 28.89 percent.

Once again, the controversial Sepp Blatter, the mighty leader of world governing body FIFA, has put his foot in his mouth. Recently, he suggested that the game should do away with ties. "Every game should have a winner," Blatter told German agency SID. "When you play cards or any other game, there's always a winner and a loser. We should have the courage to introduce a final decision in every game of football."

Maybe we are a little too harsh on the great Swiss gentleman. Blatter, 68, was just trying to be the philosopher. When you're on top of the world, it's easy to do that. This is not the first time Blatter has caused waves. He has suggested in the past tighter fitting uniforms for female players, a World Cup every two years and enlarging the size of the goals.

A measly 8,129 fans turned out to see the MetroStars host the New England Revolution Sunday in the rain. Just the week before 31,000 came out to see the team down D.C. United and Freddy Adu. Meantime, just 10,209 tuned up in Dallas and 8,129 in Denver for Major League Soccer games.

What's come over Barcelona? The Spanish team hasn't lost in 16 games and is now within smelling distance of the Primera Division leaders. . . The Mad Brit sees that Luis Figo scored a penalty kick in Portugal's 2-2 draw with Sweden. That's seven times in a row that Euro 2004 host Portugal has failed to beat a Euro 2004 opponent.

The Netherlands defeated Greece 4-0, ending the Greek's 15-game unbeaten streak, while Brazil finally beat Hungary (4-1) for the first time in four tries. And look whose changing his mind, but Henrik Larsson. The Celtic striker has agreed to come out of retirement to play for Sweden at Euro 2004 this summer. The holy ponytail

Italian 1994 World Cup star Roberto Baggio played for the Italian national team for the first time in five years in a 1-1 friendly against visiting Spain in Genoa Wednesday, Baggio played 87 minutes against Spain and it apparently was his farewell game. Don't expect him to be called up for Euro 2004, even though it would be great to see him out there.

Baggio, who is famous for missing the key penalty kick in the shootout against Brazil in the 1994 World Cup final, says he will retire at the end of the season. In club soccer, the 37-year-old playmaker has notched 11 goals for lowly Brescia this season. In his international career, he notched 27 goals in 55 games.

J. Alan Miller writes: The Chelsea\Monaco game is the perfect spot for football authorities to create consequences for "simulated" fouls. As all would agree, (Claude) Makelele's theatrics leading to the Monaco player's expulsion were just that, theatrics. There are supposed to be consequences for faking. If the referee was fooled, I can understand it. But in retrospect, what happened was clear and Makelele should be held accountable.

As you mentioned previously, something needs to be done to protect the integrity of the game and the role of theatrics like this needs to be minimized. Also, I am a big fan of any American who goes overseas and succeeds, but I am lost as to Tim Howard being named the EPL's top goalie for the year. Does he still have a future at Man. U.? I know he started a couple of games again last week. What is the current situation?

Tom Patton writes: "How right you are. We do miss Ray Hudson so much, especially here in South Florida. In one season, he almost undid four years of complete ineptitude with the (Miami) Fusion. I was at the U.S. under 20 match at Lockhart Stadium the other night and it made me sad to think what Ray could of done with more time. I miss Ray and I miss the MLS in my backyard. I miss taking my daughter to the games and hanging out with friends and watching entertaining football to boot as orchestrated by Ray. Oh yeah, could he be more right then his on assessment of (Bobby) Convey and (Ben) Olsen? I think not.

Larry Morin says: "Dear Mad B, I don't follow Chelsea all that closely, but it seems to me Chelsea without (Damien) Duff equals Blackburn without Duff. Just add a constant on the Blackburn side of the equation to indicate Chelsea's average superiority at each position. When Duff was with Blackburn last year, didn't it finish fifth? Chelsea is a fifth-place team or worse this year without Duff, but a high second-place team with him. And look where Blackburn is without Duff! Can't see that far down.

Manasseh Ngigi writes: "I Think that the Yanks lack creative players and that's the reason why they almost always fall to European sides and struggle against their CONCACAF mates. I came to this realization after watching some EPL games and comparing them to MLS games. What I saw the English players do most often were body feints after receiving passes and numerous number of fakes. On the other hand, the MLS players are more athletic and lack that creativity that sets apart good players from world-class players."

Daniel Barrera writes: "I read that (referee) Graham Poll may be charged with misconduct for his comments about diver\hatchetman\big crybaby Gary Neville. I think that would be a bad mistake by the English FA. (Poll) would no longer have the respect of the player's and would find it hard to control matches. Not only that, but he was right about that hack."

Heard a rumor, have a gripe or a tip? Feeling lonely? E-mail the Mad Brit at themadbrit3@aol.com.