The last time Brad Friedel walked off the field at Anfield, he did so in shame after receiving a red card in Aston Villa's 5-0 loss to Liverpool on March 22. Five months later, Friedel made his most recent visit to Anfield a much more enjoyable one.
Friedel enjoyed a dream performance in helping Villa knock off his former club, making ten saves to give Aston Villa a 3-1 victory against the Reds on Monday.
Friedel played for Liverpool from 1997 to 2000, joining the Red from the Columbus Crew.
Here are some other news items to get your Tuesday going:
Dube named MLS Player of the Week
New England Revolution forward Kheli Dube earned MLS player of the week honors for the first time in his career after scoring a hat-trick in the Revs' 3-1 win vs. Real Salt Lake on Saturday. The victory helped New England move into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference.
Fabregas has "chance" of facing Man Utd
Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas won't play against Celtic in UEFA Champions League play this week, but manager Arsene Wenger believes there is still a chance that Fabregas will be recovered enough from a hamstring injury to play against Manchester United on Saturday.
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That's all for now. What did you think of Villa's victory? Starting to wonder if Liverpool is in for a long year? Impressed with Dube's hat-trick performance? Praying Fabregas can face Manchester United?
Share your thoughts below.
What a great come back, but it was only 5 months ago and nothing much has changed with Liverpool in terms of players etc.
Liverpool is just not very good this year. There’s no other way to put it. They look like a mid-table team.
Steve,
Did you see the Confed Cup? It looks pretty chilly in S.A. in June. I don’t think the South American teams will have any advantage. The African squads will be the sentimental favorites but the conditions may hurt their performance as well.
The world cup is on African Soil…This will be a problem for European clubs. It will be Brazil in the end.
K Bone is right. There’s a great book I read a while back, Brilliant Orange, that kind of makes this point: the libertarian spirit that all the great Dutchie coaches encouraged from the 1960s onwards created fantastic players, a whole new way of playing….but also some extraordinary egos.
Back to the topic of Barca…..they have managed to marry the Dutchie philosophy….without the egomania.
Yes, the Dutch did have van Nistelrooy, but that’s in the past, I’m talking about now. He’s not the same player he once was, although he’ll still score some goals I’m sure. That just proves my point more, even with a big “superstar” they still didn’t come close to winning anything. Van Persie is also a great player, but he’s hurt constantly and is inconsisent, and Fabregas is much more important to Arsenal. And the Dutch don’t play as “1”, that’s a huge problem for them. If they played as one, maybe they’d have more success…
I’ve got my cash on them. Brazil is such an easy pick, but I’d rate them as semi-finals best. They just don’t strike me as the team to win it.
Very good point radnomsausage. They are there for the drama.
Isn’t the whole point of having The Netherlands in a World Cup to have the players get into a massive disagreement with management over tactics and then lose against inferior opposition?
The Dutch never win anything – they will NOT win the World Cup. My money is on Brazil.
Um the Dutchies had Van Nistlerooy – star of Man U at the time and star of RM at the time of Euro 08. Now they have a lesser star team I would agree. Van Persie is probably their star player, though Sneijder is even more talented. But they play as 1 and all that matters.
I think if the Netherlands win it will be quite a surprise. They obviously are very talented, but they have never been able to get their act together deep into a tournament. They were killed by Russia in Euro 2008, and had quite the debacle against Portugal in the World Cup. In both tournaments they looked amazing in the group stages. And in all honesty, they don’t have any superstars. They have great players, but not a single player is really the star of their club team. There’s no Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo, Kaka, Torres, etc. Half their starting line-up are Real Madrid rejects, and their defense is seriously lacking in top class players. Robben and Sneijder are both excellent, but are definitely not stars for Madrid (and will probably leave soon anyway). I just don’t see them winning the World Cup, they never reach their potential (I know Spain was the same way before Euro 2008 but they have more talent than the Netherlands in my opinion)…
@Randomsausage ROFL
@Erik, You’re right but just safe to guess. I mean early estimates show the Dutch and Spanish among top5 to bring home the trophy. I’m putting my money on the Dutchies.
Nobody will know who will win the world cup until the draw is made. It is quite possible that Holland and Spain meet in the Quarters or something….
@asoccero@yahoo.com
You got a point. Brazil would have the best chance. But Spain and NL have great chances despite history. It will just go down to whoever want it the most.
The Netherlands are gonna win the WC and Spain will be runner-up.
Posted by: PeterGriffinVsHomerSimpson | August 25, 2009 at 12:09 PM
A European team has never won the world cup outside of Europe. I was thinking you had a good match up there but it is unlikely to happen that way according to history.
Hahaha. So funny when it was the Brits who invented the term “soccer”. They invented it and we used it since we already had our version of football and they are really annoyed by it. It’s not like we care over football or soccer -the term anyway. I suppose Brits and French and Germans and etc are annoyed at the idea “Americans just have to be so different, so much better than others”
Um hello, have you ever been to France or met a French person. They’re snooty and arrogant for no reason. Same with the Brits, the days of your empire are over. Get with the program.
How it must kill the English announcers to have to reference ESPN “Soccernet” all game long…
Suck IT Scousers!
The only time I like hearing “You’ll never walk alone” is when the visiting fans start singing parodies of it…like yesterday.
(sorry, ‘pool fans, that was small and petty of me)
Hejduk is too old. Brillant player but not going to give us anything Cherundolo or Spector won’t give us.
Adu is a talent but keeps under-performing. Why is that?
Hahnemann should have been the top keeper for us at the 2007 Gold Cup or during the 2008 friendlies. But as usual overlooked and now he will never feature for us again.
I got Heydude over Marshall, and ADU over Klijsten, and Hanneman over Perkins.
DCJosh — completely agree. The tunnel and “Never Walk Alone” were spine tingling moments. Great coverage…..go ESPN.
NASCAR…were made to look like hicks with their inane comments after. The only thing interesting about NASCAR, is playing “spot the black dude in the crowd”. I’ve yet to win a game.
The rise of soccer in the USA has begun. I remember watching Euro2008. Best sports tournament I ever saw in my life. I can’t wait for the World Cup and Euro 2012.
Here’s hoping Euro2016 is held in Sweden/Norway. They got a big chance against France and Turkey to host, but Italy might win it.
I use to think all the great games were ruining my marriage too. But now I realize my marriage may be be ruining my viewing.
I’m with you froboy.
The amazing thing about the game yesterday, for me, was the coverage. I thoroughly enjoy seeing the guys in the tunnel before they walk out. I CAN NOT stand how FSC switches over to the feed a mili-second before kickoff. I really enjoyed sitting back and watching the guys walk out, then hearing you’ll never walk alone. I hope ESPN outbids FSC next year and takes all of the games, eventually offering a season ticket deal similar to nfl sunday ticket.
On top of that, you get the UK halftime program with their commentary, and only minimal ticker. I never thought I’d say it, but I am starting to like ESPN’s soccer coverage.
@froboy, Okay dude. But I’m pretty certain we’re bringing in 9 mid-fielders, that’s why I brought Kljestan. We will only bring 4 strikers, who would our 5th be? EJ? Casey? I rather just bring another midfielder.
NATO, switch Holden in for Kljestan and I could agree
In the picture, it looks like Brad is saying “you kids keep your ball out of my yard!”
It is good to see he still has the juice to play in the EPL.
At least Liverpool beat both Chelsea and Man U twice last season, home and away. That is a marvel in itself. A few un-necessary draws here and there, and we lost the title. if we kept Keane, we would have won it. 5goals in 19 league appearances with many appearances as a sub.
We need a reliable goal-scorer, Torres can’t do all the work. Yes Babel has gone from brillant with potential to straight crap. He doesn’t even play with the same swagger he had 2 years ago. Voronin is at best a bench man. Lucas is trying to improve but too much pressure for him.
The Netherlands are gonna win the WC and Spain will be runner-up. You heard it hear 1st everybody. England and Brazil will make it to the semi-finals. Ghana, Australia, USA and South Korea make it to the quarter-finals.
Gyau/Renken Hoffenheim deal is interesting. Wonder how they will develop compared to their peers who stay home?
Babel and Voronin and Lucas are not good enough for Liverpool by any stretch of the imagination. Are Chelsea/ManU/Arsenal quaking in their boots when they see Lucas on the field? Heck, will Burnley? Liverpool took 14 points (out of 18) from the other members of the Big 4 last year…..but, they dropped too many against poor teams and needed some heavy-duty miracles against Man City, Portsmouth, etc. to eke out wins. I see them in the top 3 this season, with maybe deep runs in the FA Cup and Champs League. I think the PL will come down to Chelsea or Arsenal.
Casey can score left and right in MLS, but that’s all. Oh wait also 2nd Bundesliga. But he brings nothing to international games. He’s cover for Ching. 1 Ching is more than enough. Ching can’t even score except against Barbados and T&T. He has been a decent player but against the likes of Paraguay, South Korea, Ivory Coast, he’ll be ineffective.
But Bradley will keep him, but please let him be on the bench. Altidore/Davies is the starting duo up top for now and the future.
Surely an extended first team run for Voroninho is the answer to all Liverpool’s problems! 🙂
For me it’s
GK-Howard, Guzan, Perkins
DF-Spector, Gooch, DeMerit, Boca, Cherundolo, Marshall, Bornstein,
MF- Dempsey, Bradley, Clark, Donovan, Torres, Edu, Feilhaber, Jones, Kljestan,
FW- Altidore, Davies, Cooper, Ching
Hedjuk and Casey will not be coming.
Ching will, but he’ll be on the bench, sadly Bradley still loves him. I sure hope Cooper can dislodge him.
Donovan won’t play as striker. With Davies/Altidore up top, we don’t need him as a forward.
Jones is an option but we have just 9months til the WC and he’s injured for another month or 2 and has never played with any of our boys.
Oh and trust me Edu is coming.
on another note, any news on the Hoffenheim signing of Gyau and Renken?
Toffees signed Russian winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov today. Well, I think he’s more of a central midfield player. But he’s young, 24, and still a captain for Lokomotiv Moscow and a starter for Hiddink on the national team. Looks good. Has skill on the ball, flashy, left-footed, and looks like he has good vision.
But, he’s a midfielder. And what Everton needs are defenders. Center back and right back.
Diniyar though is good cover for the oft-injured Arteta and I can see him replace Osman in the starting lineup.
Banega will also be good cover for Arteta in the middle.
I recorded the game (in HD!!!) and abstained from the interwebs until my 9-year-old (who *worships* Stevie) got home from his first day of school, so I could watch it without knowing the result. Sigh… Two notes:
1. Friedel was en fuego. On a good day, he can look like the best keeper in the world. He’s not just Ripken-like in his durability, but also has lightening-fast reactions. He was mistake-free on a day when he needed to be. At the other end, Pepe Reina had an off day, and can be blamed 100% for Villa’s second goal that put the game out of reach.
2. Yossi Benayoun disappeared, cutting inside into traffic too much, and Ryan Babel wasn’t any better as his replacement. Dirk Kuyt offered very little going forward, so poor Fernando was all alone on offense, getting MAULED, especially by the thuggish Beye. Liverpool need to find some width; if Riera doesn’t get healthy soon, they’re toast.
3. Xabi Alonso was my favorite Red last season, but he wouldn’t have stopped any of the three Aston Villa goals, and it’s hard to see how he would have broken through Villa’s defense. Yes, Lucas was awful, but I don’t see what Xabi would have added. A true winger like Arjen Robben, on the other hand…
ESPN has projected the U.S. National Team roster for the 2010 World Cup (this is if the tournament were to start tomorrow).
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/powerranking?team=USA&season=2009&month=8&cc=5901
What do you think?
Finally Villa went with their excellent 4-5-1 scheme without Heskey. 4-4-2 with Heskey always results in a horrible outcome. Honestly, playing like that they’ll threaten Champion’s League football.
UP THE VILLA! Great game and it’s so good to see EPL games on ESPNHD. I’m a Villa fan, but I don’t think for a second that Liverpool is going to continue the season like this. They’ll be in the top 4 by the end of the season. So much good soccer on TV lately, it’s ruining my marriage! UTV!
That was a tough game. Liverpool played like heroes in the 1st half while AV was mainly defense and than counter-attacked. But what’s with the attitude toward Torres? He was tackled like it was rugby everytime he touched the ball. And several times they deserved a FK and a PK, but no such luck. Anyway AV is a brillant team so if the Reds had to lose to anyone, i prefer it be them.