Arena Brings Friedel Back Into the U.S. Mix
World Cup goalkeeper Brad Friedel is back on the United States team after a near two-year absence.
Friedel was selected Wednesday by Coach Bruce Arena as part of his 19-man roster for an exhibition game against Poland next week.
Friedel, who led the U.S. to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, has not played with the national team in 21 months. He plays for Blackburn of the English Premier League.
Jonny Walker of Major League Soccer’s New York/New Jersey MetroStars is the backup goalkeeper.
U.S. captain Claudio Reyna, who plays for Manchester City in England, is one of nine foreign-based players on the team.
Steve Cherundolo and Clint Mathis of Hannover 96 in the German Bundesliga, and Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra of Fulham in England are also on the roster.
“With the crowded club schedule and the approach of the MLS season, we are fortunate to assemble a group of players like this,” said Arena, who is still looking for his first victory in Europe since becoming coach in 1998.
No More Overtime
MLS is dropping overtime in the regular season, moving in line with the rest of the soccer world.
The 2004 season, which starts April 3, will be the first in the league’s nine-year history in which tie scores will stand after 90 minutes of regulation.
Sudden-death goals were recently eliminated from international rules.
From 1996 to 1999, MLS used a shootout tiebreaker. And from 2000 to 2003, the league used a 10-minute sudden-death overtime.
Champions League
Real Madrid rallied with second-half goals by Ivan Helguera, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo to defeat Monaco, 4-2, in a European Champions League first-leg quarterfinal in Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Sebastien Squillaci opened the scoring and Fernando Morientes had the last goal of the game to give the French team a faint hope of turning the tables in the second leg April 6.
The eventual winner will play England’s Arsenal or Chelsea, who tied, 1-1, in their first leg.
“The game began nervously for us but we were able to find tranquillity and it was good to have the ball at our feet,” Real Madrid Coach Carlos Queiroz said.
At Stamford Bridge, Eidur Gudjohnsen scored in the 53rd minute for host Chelsea by capitalizing on an error by Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. Robert Pires tied the total-goals, home-and-home series six minutes later on a header.
The London clubs play at Highbury in two weeks. Chelsea has failed to win any of the last 17 games involving the teams.
Champions Cup
Dipsy Selolwane scored two goals and assisted on Chris Armas’ series winner to lead the Chicago Fire to a 4-0 victory over visiting San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad and Tobago and a spot in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The Fire, which lost the series’ first leg, 5-2, won on aggregate, 6-5.
The other MLS team in the tournament, the San Jose Earthquakes, was eliminated despite a 1-0 victory over visiting LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica on a Brian Mullan goal.
San Jose lost the first leg of the series, 3-0.
Going, Going ...
Ecuador hinted that it might withdraw from the Copa America because a hotel in Peru canceled the team’s reservation in favor of Argentina.
Peru is playing host to the tournament on July 6-25. Ecuador and Argentina are in Group B and will play their first two matches at Chiclayo.
Luis Chiriboga, president of Ecuador’s soccer federation, said Ecuador made its reservation in the Gran Hotel Chiclayo on March 7, but management decided recently to bump the team and give exclusive lodging to the Argentines.
Quick Passes
The jersey Bobby Moore handed to Pele after England’s World Cup 1970 loss to Brazil fetched $109,000 at auction in London.
The England captain, who died of cancer 11 years ago, swapped jerseys with the Brazilian great after the game at Guadalajara. Brazil won, 1-0, despite Gordon Banks’ stunning save to deny Pele and went on to win the title for a record third time.
Nicolas Burdisso headed in the winning goal in the 57th minute and Boca Juniors beat Deportivo Cali of Colombia, 3-0, at Buenos Aires to take the lead in Group 8 of the Copa Libertadores.
At Cochabamba, Bolivia, Barcelona of Ecuador rallied to tie Wilstermann of Bolivia, 2-2, in Group 7. Tulio scored twice for Wilstermann. Jose Gavica and Danny Vera scored for Barcelona.
Everton striker Duncan Ferguson was charged with violent conduct by the English Football Assn. for grabbing Leicester City midfielder Steffen Freund by the throat during a game Saturday.
The lanky Scot also was charged with improper conduct for making an offensive gesture to the Leicester fans as he left the field after a 1-1 tie.
Eintracht Frankfurt Coach Willi Reimann was banned by Germany’s soccer federation for five matches and fined $30,500 for shoving the fourth official during a Bundesliga game Saturday.
Stuart Baxter, the England under-19 coach, was appointed coach of South Africa. He succeeds Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba, who was fired for alleged breach of contract on the eve of the African Nations Cup in Tunisia in January.
Cho Jae-jin scored on a penalty two minutes before halftime to give South Korea a 1-0 victory over host Malaysia and a 3-0 record in Asian Olympic qualifying.
An emergency tax break plan aimed at helping Italy’s financially struggling clubs has run into fierce opposition, delaying its approval.
The “save soccer” plan backed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was slated to be approved at a cabinet meeting today, but a spokesman for the primer minister said that current conditions would not allow such a move.
