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Mid-Day Ticker: Friedel signs new Spurs deal, Corinthians close in on Pato, & more

Brad Friedel has made the transition from regular starter at Tottenham to back-up goalkeeper, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t see a future at the London club.

Friedel has signed a new contract with Tottenham that will keep him at the club until the end of the 2014 season.

The 41-year-old goalkeeper started for Tottenham last season, and began the current season as the first-choice netminder, but the arrival of French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris relegated him to a back-up role.

The new contract all but ensures that Friedel will not be finishing his career in MLS. At least not as a player, though he might still be good enough to start in MLS, even at the age of 43.

Here are some other stories to get you through the rest of Boxing Day:

CORINTHIANS CLOSE IN ON PATO

Newly-crowned world club champion Corinthians isn’t resting on their laurels. They are looking to get even stronger, and are preparing a big-money move for Brazilian striker Alexandre Pato from AC Milan.

According to Gazzetta Dello Sport, Milan and Corinthians have reached an agreement in principle on a €15 million transfer for the 23-year-old striker. Pato has endured an injury-plagued tenure with AC Milan, showing flashes of brilliance when healthy, but suffering far too many injuries to become a consistent force for Milan.

ROONEY SIDELINED WITH KNEE INJURY

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney missed his team’s Boxing Day victory against Newcastle, and could be out for up to three weeks, after suffering a recent knee injury in training.

Rooney suffered the injury while attempting a volley in training, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson told BBC on Wednesday.

Rooney’s absence should mean more playing time for Javier “Chicharito’ Hernandez, who scored the winning goal for Manchester United on Wednesday, and potentially Danny Welbeck.

QUICK KICKS

Daniel Sturridge’s move to Liverpool draws closer. (REPORT)

Queens Park Rangers given a boost as Taarabt left of Morroco’s ANC roster (REPORT)

The Ukrainian national team has hired a new coach. (REPORT)

Nottingham Forest fire manager. (REPORT)

Montpellier defender banned for a year for hitting journalist. (REPORT)

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What do you think of these developments? Surprised to see Friedel re-signing with Tottenham? Think Pato joining Corinthians would be a mistake?

Share your thoughts below.

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

      • If you are a USMNT fan you should care.

        Findley is still young enough to improve. After what EJ did completely writing off Findley as a US possibility would be foolish.

      • I think Findlay is still a good player, but not a great one, but may gain his way back to the USMNT if he gets playing time and learns how to shoot and score.

        His sole purpose in the WC as a winger was to make runs and try to get behind the UK/SLV/Alg defense with his fantastic speed. This he did, but he was not a good finisher and we saw a lot of fluffs and misses. Still in the UK game he did his job and kept the UK defense spread out more and allowed Clint and others more room in the center of the field, which allowed the tying goal. So well done Bob Bradley and Findlay.

      • Findley has time to improve. There is a new manager at Forest so it could go either way with him. I’m not holding my breath but he certainly is a persistent sort so there is no rational reason to count him completely out of the picture.

        After all JK gave shots to Rogers , Castillo, Fiscal, Clark, Sacha and EJ, all USMNT whipping boy poster kids. All of them have been told by you guys that they should never wear the USMNT shirt again.

  1. Because of the World Cup, you are going to see more Brazilians than usual (Kaka?) considering their domestic league if they are on the bench in Europe,

    They want Phil to see them playing.

    Reply
    • Have to figure that Kaka would bypass MLS until after the World Cup in Brazil, he’d get one last chance to represent his country at home. In all likelihood if he leaves Real in January or some time after, he would be a sure bet to head to the Brazilian League. However, if he decides not to go to Brazil and heads to MLS (which would be “sort of” a surprise) I could see him going on loan to another league in January 2014.

      Reply
      • not unless Garber can swallow his pride and get on his knees before Conmebol & traffic to get MLS into Copa Lib. Put those games (and the ones involving the invited Mexican teams) on US spanish networks and the viewing numbers will be off the chart- easily several million to begin with.

      • I think this is wierd. But I have learned to never second-guess Bruce Arena. Apparently the Galaxy has resigned Brian Perk, Have Brian Rowe, the rookie golakeep under contract for one more year, have the rights to Hesmer and have been talking (still) with Saunders.

        The only thing that would make this work is that it appears that Cudicini has not asked for a DP position, but has asked to be paid the maximu under the salary limit. This make his salary flexible, but lucrative. If the Galaxy do not sign a DP until next summer, Cudicini would reap the money in that slot (400k) until then, plus any other room under the salary cap, but once the DP has been signed his salary would be reduced significantly.

        With all sorts of homegrown and other players off the salary cap and allocation money owed from future and past trades, this could be still enough for Cudicini to make it worthwhile.

        But, I have seen many a player voice their desire to play for the Galaxy or the MLS, some use it for a bargaining tool for other clubs. Using the “Galaxy” as a lever. is kind of a compliment. It shows that it is a internationally recognized power and easily, besides the NY Red Bulls, as the most recognizable teams in the US and the world.

  2. There is little bad you can say about Brad Friedel’s career – although Bruce Arena didn’t seem to prefer him for unknown reasons to me (if not for Keller having a knee contusion Freidel wouldn’t of seen the pitch in 2002, Keller was always Arena’s top U.S. GK choice.)

    For me Friedel was always a prime example of great: positioning, defense organization and use of natural ability (size and athleticism) to make difficult saves on a mind boggling constant basis through the 2000s. While I always felt his hands left something to be desired – I would venture to say he actually had quality hands since he is strong in the air – and the immense difficulty of his saves made it hard to hold on to some of his sprawling efforts.

    All in all he’s these days he’s EPL equivalent of having Matt Hasselbeck on your bench. You don’t feel like you can win it all if he starts every week – but if your starter goes down for a few weeks, he’s your best bet to weather the storm and get you through with quality starts.

    Reply

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