Brad Friedel: The American who lived Türkiye's most explosive football feud
The Ohio native tended goal for Galatasaray against Fenerbahçe in a truly ferocious match: "If you can play in this derby," he says, "You can play in any derby in the world."
When I first started watching the Premier League back in 2006 and 2007, there were only a handful of Americans plying their trade in England’s first division: Brian McBride at Fulham, Claudio Reyna at Manchester City … and then there was Brad Friedel.
An Ohio native, he played his college ball at UCLA before heading over to Europe. He eventually joined Liverpool for a stint, then embarked on a career-defining spell at Blackburn Rovers. He also stopped shots for Aston Villa and for Tottenham Hotspur, where in his final season he ran into a guy named Mauricio Pochettino. Friedel, who was capped 82 times for the U.S. Men’s National Team, got a front row seat to the Argentine’s methods when he came in and transformed Spurs, and Friedel’s faith has never wavered that Pochettino will deliver now as head coach of the USMNT.
We talked about all that when Friedel joined the show this Thanksgiving week, but we also got into a fascinating early chapter of his career. In 1995, he went off to Istanbul to play for Graeme Souness at Galatasaray. Along the way, he got a taste of one of the world’s most combustible football derbies: Galatasaray against Fenerbahçe, the battle of Istanbul.
Ahead of the latest edition this coming Monday, Friedel explained how failure to win this match could get you banned from a local restaurant. He also told some stories from his times with Brian Clough and Kevin Keegan:
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A few more matches worth your time this weekend…
SUNDERLAND vs BOURNEMOUTH
Sat @ 10am ET, 3pm UK
This is an unlikely meeting of seventh and eighth in the Premier League after 12 matches. Well, Bournemouth have pretty much established themselves in these lofty precincts, but Sunderland started the season shot out of a cannon and may just be coming back down to earth.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN vs BORUSSIA DORTMUND
Sat @ 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UK
Third against fourth in the Bundesliga, with Leverkusen coming off an away-day demolition of Manchester City in the Champions League this week while Dortmund dismantled 10-man Villareal. These two are well off Bayern Munich’s frenetic pace at the top of the table, but are they beginning to click into some form?
TOTTENHAM vs FULHAM
Sat @ 3pm ET, 8pm UK
When there’s a Premier League late game on a Saturday, we recommend it. For North American viewers especially, a 3pm slot is top. Plus, it’s a London derby, and Tottenham’s home record has been poor so far under Thomas Frank: They haven’t won on their own patch in the league since Matchweek 1. There might be opportunity here for Fulham.
PALMEIRAS vs FLAMENGO
Sat @ 4pm ET, 9pm UK
It’s the Copa Libertadores final, as teams from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro face off in Lima, Peru to determine who will be champions of South America. Incredibly, five of the last seven finals have been all-Brazilian affairs.
Both of these clubs have won this tournament three times — Palmeiras have won two of the last four, an emerging dynasty — and they occupy the top two spots in the Brazilian Serie A table. Flamengo, currently five points clear domestically, are on the cusp of a league-and-continental double.
INTER MIAMI vs NYCFC
Sat @ 6pm ET, 11pm UK
It’s Lionel Messi and Co. in the Eastern Conference finals. The MLS Cup may not be the most prestigious trophy they’ll have added to their cabinets — between them, Messi, Sergio Busquets, Luís Suarez, Jordi Alba, and Rodrigo De Paul have nine Champions League medals and three World Cup golds — but they’ll want to stamp their authority on this competition. Plus, this would be Busquets’ last-ever game if they lose.
This is shaping up to be attack vs. defense, with Miami smacking in 12 goals in four games during these MLS playoffs. NYC have conceded just once so far.
WEST HAM vs LIVERPOOL
Sun @ 9:05am ET, 2:05pm UK
Liverpool are going through it, no doubt about it. They’ve lost three in a row across the league and Champions League and shipped 10 goals along the way. The last seven of those were at Anfield!
Arne Slot must find a way to stop the bleeding, or he could be party to one of the more improbable managerial sackings of all time. Six months ago he was a title-winning hero, but defeat to lowly West Ham could legitimately do him in.
CHELSEA vs ARSENAL
Sun @ 11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK
It’s another London derby for Arsenal in the space of eight days after they brushed aside Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday. This one is just as bitter — I’m one of those Arsenal fans who hates Chelsea just as much or more than Spurs — and it has the added table stakes of a title contest.
The hosts have snuck up into second with Manchester City and Liverpool drifting, and at Stamford Bridge, Enzo Maresca will believe he can strike a telling blow against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. Both of these teams enjoyed statement victories over premier continental opposition in midweek, trouncing Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively in the Champions League, so this one’s shaping up as a truly top-shelf affair.
ROMA vs NAPOLI
Sun @ 2:45pm ET, 7:45pm UK
Good Lord, there are a lot of good matches this week. We round out our highly watchable slate with a title clash down in Italy, where Roma are top of the table under Gian Piero Gasperini. The capital side have not been blowing teams away, but they’ve been grinding out those results, keeping clean sheets and getting a second goal when the opposition gets one.
Time will tell if that’s sustainable across the season, and this one ought to be a decent barometer. The defending champions are coming to town, but Antonio Conte’s team are third after tasting defeat at Bologna’s Stadio Renato dall’Ara earlier this month. It’s a mob scene at the top of Serie A right now, with five teams within three points of each other, but it could all shift mightily with a single result — like whatever we get here.