Brad Friedel may have just played his last game on American soil. Tottenham Hotspur shut out the Chicago Fire Saturday evening 2-0 in an international friendly. Friedel, a native of Lakewood, Ohio (336 miles from Chicago) got an extremely warm reception as he stepped off the pitch for the evening. It was loud. The crowd of 17,156 (in a stadium that has a capacity of 30,000) loved the 43-year-old keeper.
Brad Friedel was magnificent tonight, having his best performance of the preseason tour thus far.
His playing days will end soon, but he has a very bright future in either coaching or broadcasting. Whichever way he wants to go. He already had a foot in the door in both worlds, as you can see from this interview.
Harry Kane opened scoring for the visitors with a right-footed shot in the 5th minute and Aaron Lennon doubled the lead in the 84th minute as Tottenham completed their three-city American tour with the victory.
Chicago Fire head coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On Brad Friedel’s reception at Toyota Park
“He deserves all the accolades you can give him, to be honest. Is he 43? Not bad. He’s in good shape, but I think one of the top, if not the top, goalkeepers we’ve seen from the states. I think he deserved everything he got tonight. I don’t know how much more he’s going to play, but he’s actually a real gentlemen, as well. I know him pretty well too, and he’s a terrific guy – and I think that’s the main thing I look at. He’s a terrific player, obviously, but I think being a really good person like he is, he deserves everything he gets.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Grant Ward on loan from Spurs
On playing Tottenham:
“It was a good experience to play against a few people I know, some good players. For me, it was time to impress. Obviously a new coaching staff, new manager coming in, so it was time to impress.”
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)