Friedel: I am a fitness fanatic
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“When I’m done playing, I’ll be doing a Half Ironman”
Brad Friedel knows a thing or two about endurance. For 2977 days, over the course of eight full seasons, the former USA goalkeeper played a record 310 consecutive English Premier League matches for Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. The long-time shot stopper will have to begin training for the event (a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run), now that he will officially be hanging up his gloves. He has announced an end to a career that has spanned more than two decades and will retire from the game at the end of the season.
“Along that run of 310 games, there were only two times where I was close to missing a game,” Friedel recalls in an exclusive chat with FIFA.com. “I am a fitness fanatic. I took up yoga 12 or 13 years ago. The older I’ve gotten, the more important training every day has become.”
Towards the end of that incredible run, Friedel signed for Tottenham Hotspur, aged 40. Most considered it a strange switch for both parties.
“I signed a two year contract, and the chairman was very up front with me,” Friedel said. “They were looking for a long term No1 goalkeeper, they wanted some consistency while they were looking. That was why they knocked on my door. They said: ‘We’ll give you a two year contract. The first year, provided your form stays good, you’ll be our goalkeeper.’”
His form was excellent. Friedel started every English Premier League game of the 2011/12 campaign. Only four teams conceded less goals than Tottenham that season, and the side finished fourth. However, the club missed out on UEFA Champions League qualification due to Chelsea’s miraculous victory in Munich.
“The squad we had that first season was tremendous,” Friedel recalls fondly. “Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart, Ledley King. I had played so many games in a row before that that the age never crept into my mind. I’ve always signed [a contract] knowing that I’d be able to make it through. When games were ticking over, it just felt normal, my body didn’t break down at all. That first year, I fully expected it to turn out in that manner.”
The former USA man saw a couple of new arrivals in the summer of 2012, with Andre Villas-Boas coming in to replace Harry Redknapp as manager, with the Portuguese signing France’s No1 goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Friedel kept his place at the start of the 2012/13 season, but his run of consecutive games ended on 7 October 2012 when, more than eight years after starting the run whilst playing for Blackburn Rovers against West Bromwich Albion, he was left on the bench with Lloris preferred.
“A club like Tottenham doesn’t need a 41-year-old as their main goalkeeper, they had to look to the future,” Friedel said. “They found an outstanding goalkeeper in Hugo.”
"I want us to continually be upset and disappointed when we lose games. I want us to progress to the next level."
Brad Friedel, former USA goalkeeper, on the national side.
Shortly after being replaced by Lloris, Friedel signed a new one-year contract, which was renewed until the end of the current season. Friedel has now decided it will be his last as a professional footballer. What next?
“I’m moving to Los Angeles and working with FOX when I’m finished with Tottenham,” Friedel said. “I’m also in the process of completing my UEFA Pro Licence. I always said at the end of it, I will definitely be involved in football, it’s in my blood. I’m looking forward to being a studio analyst, co-commentator and the like with Fox Sports.”
The expert analysis that Friedel will offer comes from a position as one of the most-celebrated former players of a golden generation. Friedel, along with captain Claudio Reyna, forward Brian McBride and Best Young Player of the tournament Landon Donovan, came close to reaching the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ semi-finals, narrowly defeated by eventual finalists Germany.
“It sounds a bit strange, but one of the favourite things looking back on it was how disappointed we all were when we lost to Germany,” Friedel remembers. “Growing up in the USA, we didn’t have a professional league. We were always fighting to try and get noticed in the world of football. In 1990, 1994, 1998 there was a feeling of just being happy to be there. In 2002, we expected to win every game, and every player expected to play.
"We were arguably the better team on that day in the quarter-final against Germany. Oliver Kahn had a great game. We came off the field not just being happy that we’d make it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but we were absolutely devastated that we didn’t get through to the semi-finals.”
Despite ‘soccer fever’ gripping the States during the 2014 World Cup, with record viewing figures and thousands turning up to stadiums across the country to watch games live, Friedel had a cautious tone when recalling Brazil 2014 – a tournament at which he was also a television analyst.
“We showed great team spirit to get through,” Friedel said, referencing a difficult Group G which included Ghana, Portugal and Germany. “But it seemed as though we were happy to get through that really tough group, and then we were battered by Belgium. They’re a tremendous side, but it was almost as though we’d done our job because we got through to the knockout stages. I want us to continually be upset and disappointed when we lose games. I want us to progress to the next level, and for us to expect the win.”
One would think Friedel will play some part in progressing football in the USA to that next level, whether that be through his role with television coverage in the country, or at some later stage with his coaching badges. One thing is for certain, whatever Friedel chooses to do, he will be in it for the long haul.
You can find regular updates from Brad Friedel on his website, 310friedel.com.