Americans Abroad

With knee braced, Friedel returns to stop penalty kick and lead Rovers past Fulham 2-1; Keller, Hahnemann are also strong.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
and Mark Flannery (in France)
SoccerTimes

(Monday, December 2, 2002) -- American Brad Friedel was back in net for Blackburn Rovers and up to his own tricks, turning in a sensational performance in a 2-1 victory over Fulham Saturday.

Friedel had arthroscopic surgery to remove cartilage from his left knee just two weeks ago and ended up missing only a single English Premier League match. Playing with the knee in a brace and tightly taped, he moved well in an effort described by one London newspaper as "awesome." He made a half dozen saves, including stopping a penalty kick, to help Rovers end a three-match skid.

"I'm not going to tell you how good he is, but he did his bit," said Blackburn manager Graeme Souness, who two weeks ago called Friedel the best keeper in the Premiership. "Brad is lucky because he is a natural athlete. Although he's big-boned, he's light on his feet and is in great shape for a goalkeeper. In training, he saves 50 percent of penalties. Although he did his bit later, I thought in the first half we played very well, got a very good goal and had several other chances."

Rovers controlled the match during the first half and moved to a 1-0 lead on Dwight Yorke's goal in the 37th minute.

The visitors came on strong in the second half with Friedel working hard to keep Rovers in the lead. He controlled a curling 27-yard free kick from Steed Malbranque and then came out and blocked a shot by Luis Boa Morte with his chest after a through pass from Malbranque.

With 30 minutes to go, Steve Marlet beat Friedel to equalize for Fulham. Boa Morte's back-heel flick sent Marlet through and, ignoring a direct path to goal, he cut across the box into two defenders before shooting through defender Craig Short's legs into the opposite corner.

Fulham continued to attack and Boa Morte's speed was too much for Short who took him down in the box. Friedel, however, went to his left to stop Marlet's firmly-struck penalty kick.

Rovers went ahead 2-1 with 12 minutes to go lead on an own goal by Fulham's Rufus Brevett.

Fulham resumed attacking with Friedel came up big in the closing minutes to save headers from Boa Morte and Marlet before turning away a wicked shot from Malbranque.

"We were disappointed with the result because we created six or seven very good chances and only scored once," Fulham assistant manager Christian Damiano said "Their keeper was great and made three fantastic saves -- the penalty he kept out and the two on the line."

In another sparkling performance by an American goalkeeper, Marcus Hahnemann earned his sixth clean sheet in a row, leading Reading past Brighton 1-0 in England's First Division. It was Reading's fourth consecutive 1-0 victory with Hahnemann in net for each. Reading took the 1-0 lead on a goal by John Salako in the 23rd minute. From there, Hahnemann and his defense made the narrow lead stand up.

He stopped a long-range shot from Gary Hart and then deflected a header from Bobby Zamora. Later, he made his best save, denying Kerry Mayo's point-blank header of Simon Rodger's corner.

Hahnemann is looking a bit scraggly these days since he has vowed not to shave until he concedes a goal.

United States keeper Kasey Keller also had a fine day for Tottenham Hotspur which drew 1-1 with Birmingham City in a somewhat ragged Premier League match Saturday.

Keller started with a nice save on former Columbus Crew striker Stern John in the seventh minute. While not overly busy, Keller stopped shots from Robbie Savage and then palmed away a downward header by John.

After Teddy Sheringham scored to put Spurs in a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute, Jeff Kenna tied the match 13 minutes later for Birmingham. He brought the ball up the wing, beat a defender to the inside and drilled a low shot past a diving Keller from seven yards.

U.S. attacker Jovan Kirovski came on for Birmingham in the 90th minute and soon after Keller was called on to stop a nice effort by Clint Morrison.

U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis scored his best goal since joining the First Division's Preston North End, a spectacular first-time volley with two minutes remaining for a 2-1 win over Coventry City.

"We missed several really good opportunities, but Eddie Lewis did us proud in the end," North End manager Craig Brown said

The left winger played well all day, controlling his flank. After the two teams traded goals, Lewis almost helped Preston grab the lead in the 85th minute when he controlled a long pass and put the ball back to David Healy who shot just wide. Three minutes later, Lewis used his first touch to volley a Graham Alexander free kick out of the air for the winner.

Lewis was replaced by a defender in injury time "We had enough chances to kill off the game and when you don't take them, you always think that you are going to rue the fact," Brown said.

American striker Joe-Max Moore remains out of favor at Everton and might leave the Premier League club at the end of the month though his contract runs to June. Major League Soccer has inquired about the former member of the New England Revolution but apparently is not prepared to offer him anything near the league maximum salary,

Speculation started this week Wolves boss Dave Jones has taken an interest in obtaining him via loan for the First Division team. Moore needs to get a work permit renewal for 2003. Though his lack of playing time might hamper that process, Moore probably is eligible because he has been injured and because of his standing with the U.S. men.

Moore is healthy now, but has been assigned to the reserve team.

In England's Second Division, U.S. midfielder John Thorrington came on in the 64th minute in Huddersfield Town's 1-0 loss to Chesterfield. There has been media speculation in the last week that the cash-strapped team is sitting out certain players because they have appearance fees in their contracts in which reserves receive lesser bonuses than starters.

With Sanneh strong in the first half, Nürnberg took a 1-0 lead into intermission on the strength of David Jarolim's goal in the third minute. Lars Ricken and Ewerthon gave Dortmund the victory with second-half strikes.

As has become his habit, Nürnberg coach Klaus Augenthaler was critical of Sanneh for a second-half positioning error that contributed to Ricken's equalizer. That seemed grossly unfair since Sanneh was playing with both a bad back and injured thigh.

U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo regained his starting role at right back for Hannover 96, but couldn't help prevent a 2-0 setback to Schalke 04.

There are new reports that American striker Conor Casey, on loan to Hannover but who has not appeared this season, re-injured the knee that has kept him out of the lineup all season and will not play until after the January winter break.

U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter remains out of favor at Energie Cottbus and did not play in a 4-3 loss to 1860 Munich Saturday.

Walker was credited with an assist on the second goal after his long clearing kick deep into Coquimbo's end was collected and put into the net.

Unfortunately, the former Clemson University and U.S. youth national-team player suffered a hamstring injury in training and is not expected to be available on December 18 when he becomes eligible.

Also in France, Greg Vanney was on the Bastia bench for a 1-0 decision over Lille.

Fellow U.S. defender David Regis again was not dressed for Troyes which went down to Guingamp 2-0.

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