Veteran goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who hasn’t played at Liverpool this season, came to the rescue when injury prevented Adin Brown from traveling to Australia for the Olympics. If all goes as expected, his next stop will be Blackburn Rovers.

SOCCER AMERICA: You were an Olympian in 1992. How are things different this time around?

BRAD FRIEDEL: We’re more organized this year, with more experienced players. I think the players are all-around better now than we were then. We were all amateurs in ’92, and everyone now with the exception of [Conor Casey] is a professional, and to be fair, he’s as good as a professional.

SA: What are your warmest memories of the Barcelona Games?

BF: We had an exceptional team spirit on that team, and there’s a good one here, too, which is really good to see. This group is better than we were in ’92, and we missed out [on the quarterfinals] on goal differential. I’m thinking we have a good chance.

SA: What is your role on this team?

BF: It’s their team. My role is to come in and fit in with them, adapt to them. I had to come in and kind of test the waters, see what the boys were like, and I had to fit into them. By no means was it I come in here and they have to adapt to me.

SA: Knowing this group, I’ve got to think it wasn’t difficult to fit in.

BF: Not at all. They’re a really good group of guys. Clive [Charles, the head coach] did a magnificent job picking this side, because he has a group of boys who work very hard. This is one of the first teams I’ve played on where there is no animosity in the camp. Everyone gets along with each other.

SA: Do you think you will play for Liverpool again?

BF: I think a transfer will probably happen before that would arise.

SA: I understand things are set up for a move to Blackburn.

BF: You said it, I didn’t. … I won’t talk about anything on the record.

SA: How would you gauge your experience at Liverpool?

BF: There have been frustrating points to it, but I will tell you this: There is far more good that has come out of it than bad. Since I’ve been there, I’ve gotten better as a goalkeeper. When you train with the squad we have, interact with players like that every day, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Have there been frustrating parts? Absolutely. Do I think I was treated properly? Absolutely not. But those are things you have to deal with.

SA: When do you think your situation will be ironed out?

BF: There are talks going on every day. I thought it was going to be done a couple weeks ago. It might be a couple weeks from now. But it will be sooner rather than later.

by Soccer America senior editor Scott French