Friedel - USA no pushovers

The USA are once again at the World Cup in Brazil and football in America has had a giant leap in popularity this season as has the Premier League over there.



Former Tottenham favourite Jürgen Klinsmann, who has a contract with USA until 2018, is guiding the development over there and in one again taking them to compete at a major tournament where the world is slowly accepting they are not the pushovers they once were.

Our own Brad Friedel played 82 times for his country between 1992 and 2005 and enjoyed an excellent career in the Premier League which isn't over yet having just signed a new 1 year contract at 43.

He spoke to Sony about the up coming tournament in Brazil.

“Does the world take the US more seriously? I think yes, definitely.

“I think back in 1990, which was the first World Cup we qualified for in some time, I don’t think they took us seriously at all, nor should they have really because I think most of the players were still in University.

"I think the others were semi-pro and there were probably only a handful of full-time professionals in that team. In 94, when Bora Milutinovic molded the team that got us into the second round and we lost to Brazil, I think that was probably the first time when the world started realizing the US a little bit.

“But then when us individual players came over to Europe and started carving out long-term careers in Europe, I think they started realizing that US players can play.

“We’re still years away from being a world power, don’t get me wrong – but we’re light years ahead of where we were when I first started.”

The USA have been drawn in Group G with three time winners Germany, Portugal and Ghana. It's a tough group but Portugal are not the team they were and often struggle at major tournaments while Ghana are one of the stronger African sides.

You would expect Germany to win the group but with the tournament being played in heat second place is no formality for Portugal.

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