The year was 1998. It was just before Christmas and I was sent to Liverpool to write a feature on soccer’s most famous young star at the time. Of course, I’m talking about Michael Owen.

It was my first visit to Anfield. My first time hearing the crowd serenade the home team with You’ll Never Walk Alone. Needless to say, it was like a religious experience.

And for some reason, I have this memory, all these years later, of watching Brad Friedel, who was backing up David James at the time and thinking, “Isn’t that nice.”

I had watched Friedel play for the Columbus Crew in the early days of Major League Soccer and thought it was nice that he was giving the English Premier League a shot. I was impressed that he was considered good enough to be on the bench for a team like Liverpool.

Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel to retire at end of season Read more

Fast-forward to today, nearly 17 years after I watched Friedel walk across the pitch to the bench at Anfield, to the news that Friedel, who will turn 44 on 18 May, is retiring. Then take a look at some of the numbers the Ohio-born goalkeeper has amassed while playing for Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

He is the Premier League record holder for most consecutive appearances, 310, between August 2004 and November 2012. He has played in 479 Premier League matches, not to mention 40 FA Cup, 29 League Cup and 39 European matches. If he plays in one of Tottenham’s final two matches, he will become the oldest player to ever feature in an Premier League match.

Like I said, I was impressed to see Friedel on a Premier League squad sheet all those years ago. Now, as he prepares to finally put the gloves away, it’s fair to say Friedel is the most highly-regarded, most respected American player to ever compete in England’s top league.

Blessed with a 6ft 3in frame, an immense wingspan and great athleticism, Friedel became a master of his trade in England. Excellent on crosses. Clear in his direction of a backline. One of Friedel’s most under-appreciated skills was the accuracy of his goal kicks.

In fact, in 2002, when Bruce Arena picked Friedel over Kasey Keller to start for the US in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, it was the accuracy of Friedel’s foot that sealed the deal. Arena once told me it was critical for his team, when playing Portugal in the opening match, to play as much as possible in their opponents’ end of the field. He noted that Friedel’s ability to find target man Brian McBride’s head with goal kicks was a huge factor in the US’s execution.

Of course, Friedel did a lot more than launch 70-yard balls on a dime in the 2002 World Cup. He saved a penalty in the US team’s 1-1 draw with host South Korea, and then stopped another against Poland. He kept a clean sheet in the US’s 2-0 Round of 16 win over Mexico.

Of course, some US fans wish Friedel’s international career lasted longer. In 2005 he announced his retirement from the international game, which at the time, felt like an ending.

But in some ways, maybe it was the beginning. The beginning of a club career in England that will be hard, if not impossible, for any American player to ever duplicate. He played well, he played long, and became a day in, day out, year in and year out, fixture in the Premier League.

If there was – or even is – scepticism about the American player among followers of the game in England, it seems now that only pertains to American field players. Tim Howard has followed in Friedel’s footsteps, carving out a great career at Everton. Brad Guzan has done well at Villa. That no one is surprised to see Howard and Guzan excel is, in part, a credit to Friedel.



“I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved in my career,” Friedel said on Tottenham’s website. “When I first started the journey I never imagined it would be this long, playing 23 seasons in total and representing some incredible clubs.”

And I think back to that day, in December of 1998, when I was just impressed to see Friedel in a Liverpool uniform, wondering to myself how long it would be before he was back in MLS. He certainly would have been given a hero’s welcome had he ever returned to play in the US.

Instead, 17 years later, he gets a hero’s send-off in England.

Well-deserved, I might add.