Americans Abroad

Despite divergent fortunes, Berhalter and Friedel are content with their situations in Great Britain

Gregg Berhalter has been designated for transfer, but he doesn't want to leave Crystal Palace in England.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
and Joel Lange (in England),
SoccerTimes

(Thursday, February 28, 2002) -- Gregg Berhalter has seen his fortunes in England decline precipitously, seldom playing for Crystal Palace with Trevor Francis, manager of the First Division club, recently putting the American defender on the team’s transfer list. That doesn’t mean Berhalter wants to go.

"I have not asked to leave Palace," Berhalter said in the London issue of Metro. "I need to make it clear, I have not asked to leave. I had nothing to do with that. The gaffer (boss) told me I wasn't in his plans and that he was putting me on the list. (Francis) likes a certain type of player and I'm not the ideal type for him. I was pleased to be in the team on Saturday, but it was one of our worst performances. My situation doesn't matter -- it's more important the team wins."

While Berhalter languishes at Palace, his United States teammate, goalkeeper Brad Friedel is thriving with Blackburn Rovers and now says he would like to finish his career with the club.

In Palace’s Saturday outing, Berhalter received a rare start because of four defenders were sidelined with injuries. He did well for 90 minutes, but could not prevent a 1-0 setback to Sheffield United.

Tuesday night, when Palace romped over Barnsley 4-1, Berhalter was already on his way to join the United States men for matches the next two weekends against Honduras and Ecuador. He was expendable because the London side reduced its back line to three from four.

U.S. striker Jovan Kirovski, who has been struggling the last few weeks with a thigh strain, relieved Julian Gray for the final couple minutes against Barnsley.

Since moving from Sparta Rotterdam in the Netherlands’ Eredivisie (first division) on a free transfer a year ago, Berhalter has started in just 10 First Division matches.

Meanwhile, in the wake of his "Man of the Match" performance to lead Blackburn Rovers over Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the Worthington Cup final -- Rovers’ first major Cup title since 1928 -- Friedel told Sports.com he wants to finish his career with the club currently battling to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

"My contract expires at the end of next season and I'd like to spend the rest of my career at Rovers," Friedel said. "I'll be 31 at the end of this season and I'd like to secure my long-term future here. There's a lot to build on here. We have a lot of tremendous young players mixed in with experienced players."

After the triumph over Hotspur, Rovers manager Graeme Souness called Friedel the best keeper in the Premiership and said he would not trade him for any other keeper in the league. However, Rovers are tied for 18th place in the 20-team Premier League with the bottom three teams relegated to the First Division. Should Rovers be demoted after only one year in the Premier League, they will face the inevitable question of whether they can prevent their top players from moving to clubs in the Premiership.

Based on his outstanding season, Friedel would be a likely target, but the American does not see that happening. "We have the right mixture to get us out of the spot we're in and build for the future," he said. "As long as we get some results, we'll be fine."

Even if Friedel continues to turn in performances such as he did against Tottenham at Cardiff, Rovers still would have to solve their season-long scoring drought to bridge the widening gulf the club faces to 17th place and the promised land.

Senior correspondent Robert Wagman compiled this column and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.