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U.S. men's schedule, results
Lewis leads Preston to 2-0 upset of Birmingham City in Worthington Cup.
U.S. goalkeepers record three shutouts in England, but only one emerges with a victory.
O'Brien is frustrated by lack of improvement with his
Achilles in injury.
Reyna's Sunderland season is over after knee diagnosis is as bad as expected.
Friedel's solid effort can't prevent Blackburn 1-0 loss to Celtic in UEFA Cup.
Reyna goes down with apparently serious knee injury.
Hobbled Friedel still sensational for Rovers who upset Arsenal 2-1.
Keller, Friedel continue to roll, while Reyna sinks in England.
Walker apparently OK after scary collision in Universidad de Católica goal.
Bayer Leverkusen is considering Donovan recall to revive sagging fortunes.
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Americans Abroad Friedel continues his strong play, leading Blackburn to 1-1 draw with Southampton.By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
(Tuesday, November 12, 2002) -- United States goalkeeper Brad Friedel is having a career season for Blackburn Rovers in England's Premier League and he kept up that level of play Saturday with four sensational saves in a 1-1 draw with Southampton. All Friedel gave up was a 38th-minute penalty kick to James Beattie following Craig Short's foul on Anders Svensson. Andy Cole gave Rovers the draw with a goal in injury time. Southampton manager Gordon Strachan called the American keeper "Superman." "Friedel must have got changed in a telephone box today," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if when he takes his shirt off there's a blue jersey with an 'S' on underneath it." Friedel was superb, keeping Blackburn in the match against Southampton which is undefeated at home this season and a loser only once in its last six league games. In the early-going, Friedel came off his line to strip the ball from an advancing Brett Ormerod. In the 33rd minute, he stopped Svensson who had been sent through by Ormerod. In the 48th minute, Friedel made two saves in short order that left the Southampton players shaking their heads. First he blocked Ormerod's drive from the edge of the penalty area with the rebound going to Fabrice Fernandes. Fernandes crossed to Chris Marsden whose point-blank header was batted away by the keeper. In the 72nd minute, Friedel blocked a wicked shot from Fernandes and then held onto the rebound. U.S. keeper Kasey Keller played well, but not well enough for Tottenham Hotspur which fell 2-0 to invigorated Sunderland 2-0. The match was tight until the 60th minute when Kevin Phillips gave Sunderland the lead. Michael Gray's corner was headed out by a Spurs defender, but it went back to Gray who crossed to an unmarked Phillips for a header from six yards that easily found the net with little Keller could do to stop it. Less than two minutes later,Phillips lofted a pass set Tore Andre Flo, who controlled and, with a Spurs defender on his shoulder, hit a hard shot from a tight angle went through Keller's legs. Keller's best save of the day, a terrific effort, was made on his own defender Chris Perry. Under pressure from Phillips, Perry attempted to clear the ball, but succeeded in launching what seemed a perfect lob over Keller who backpedaled furiously, leaped full out and managed to knock the ball down and then grabbed it off the goal line. He also made a fine save off of Michael Proctor, the 22-year-old striker making his Sunderland debut. Chelsea defeated Birmingham City 3-0 with American Jovan Kirovski watching from the loser's bench. According to a number of British newspapers this week, striker Joe-Max Moore will not be re-signed to a new contract by Everton at the end of the calendar year when his contract ends his work permit expires. Everton sources say that Moore will return to Major League Soccer to rejoin the New England Revolution. MLS has no comment on the matter. American Marcus Hahnemann continued his sparkling play in goal for Reading which shut out Gillingham 1-0 in England's First Division. It was Hahnemann's third straight clean sheet, the fourth of the last six matches and his eighth of the season. He has given up only two goals in his last six matches. In the first half, Hahnemann kept Gillingham off the scoreboard first by punching out a hard long-range shot by Chris Hope. Minutes later, he stopped a fierce 25-yard shot from Kevin James. U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis logged another good match, but Preston North End's defenders were victimized for bad goals in the first 25 minutes in a 2-1 loss to Millwall. Lewis made several deep runs down the left flank, once putting a perfect cross onto striker Richard Cresswell head, but the shot hit off the underside of the crossbar. In the German Bundesliga, FC Nürnberg continued its winning ways, defeating Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 on Martin Driller's 55th minute goal. American Tony Sanneh played 90 minutes on the right side of midfield and made several fine plays on both ends, at one point clearing a shot that could have tied the match. The road win moved Nürnberg (5-6-1, 16 points) into a tie for 10th place. Hannover 96 seems to be turning its season around, winning its second in a row 1-0 at woeful Kaiserslautern. American Steve Cherundolo played well on the right side of defense for Hannover which won in a gpal from former German international Fredi Bobic. Hannover (4-5-3, 15) moved a point clear of the relegation zone in a tie for 13th place. With U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter watching from the bench, Energie Cottbus (1-9-2, 5) lost 3-0 to Borussia Monchengladbach, its fifth setback in its last six outings and is dead last. In Second Bundesliga action, Fürth defeated floundering St Pauli 2-1. American defender Cory Gibbs went the distance was about as good a player as St. Pauli had on the field in a match was not as close as the score might indicate Americans Grover Gibson and Mike Duhaney did not play for Mainz which lost 1-0 to Duisburg. In the third division, American Jacob Thomas played the first 80 minutes for Braunschweig in its 0-0 draw with Frankfurt. American Joe Enochs went 90 minutes in the midfield for Osnabrück which defeated the Hamburg Amateurs 1-0. American Tim Lawson scored his first goal of the season for Elversberg which drew 1-1 with Stuttgart Kickers. In the Netherlands, NAC Breda drew 0-0 with FC Groningen, in a generally dull match. U.S. attacker Earnie Stewart played the whole game as part of NAC's usual thre- man front. He played the first 70 minutes in the center and then moved out to the right flank where he produced NAC's best chance of the night, going in alone on the keeper in the 78th minute, only to shoot over the crossbar. In France, U.S. defender Greg Vanney played the second half for Bastia (5-7-2) which dropped a 3-0 decision to Troyes (2-7-5, 11) which stands 19th out of 20 teams in the French Ligue 1. Bastia was in the match until the 72nd minute when it gave up a second goal and then a third in injury time. U.S. defender David Regis again was not dressed for Troyes. In Chile, Jonny Walker was back in his normal spot in the goal for Universidad Católica after a short recuperation from a head injury. On Saturday, Catolica, which has not been playing up to last season's championship form, went down to Audax Italiano 3-2. None of the three goals were Walker's fault. On the first, he made a full length diving save only to see the rebound put in. On the second, a defender fell and he was victimized by two opponents breaking in alone. The third goal came on an odd play, when a questionable call produced an indirect kick which resulted in a shot changing direction off a defender and finding net.
Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be
e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.
Christopher Courtney is an American living in Mainz, Germany, and can be contacted at
yanksgermany@yahoo.com.
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