Friedel - key player in States semi bid (Allsport).

By Paul Walker, PA Sport, Ulsan

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The Yankee hero with German ancestors is the key factor in the USA's bid for World Cup glory.

Goalkeeper Brad Friedel, Blackburn's star and the USA's outstanding player in their dramatic charge to the quarter finals, is being viewed as the one man who can stun odds-on favourites Germany here on Friday.

USA team mate Jeff Agoos, whose leg injury means he'll almost certainly miss out on the big match, rates Friedel as crucial if the States are going to confound football worldwide with another shock in this tournament.

Defender Agoos said: "When you want someone behind you to depend on and count on, it's Brad. You want to know that when the shots start coming in, he can be relied on.

"He's been absolutely outstanding here and one of the main reasons we have reached the last eight.

"He will make big, big saves in every match. But one of the strengths of our squad is goalkeeping because Kasey Keller can perform in the same way."

Friedel's family roots are in Germany before his ancestors emigrated to the States early in the last century.

He said: "I don't have any relatives left in Germany now. My family name used to be Freidman before it was changed when my relatives moved to the States."

Interestingly, when Friedel was having his five year problem of not being able to get a work permit to play in England, he looked into seeing whether he had close enough German ancestry to enable him to acquire a German passport.

Unfortunately for Friedel, those family roots were not recent enough.

He said: "My family name is German and it used to be Freidman, a long, long time ago."

Agoos, now 34 and clearly in his last World Cup Finals, now expects to sit out Friday's showdown, and said: "Germany are one of the best teams in the tournament, I know they are missing a few very good players, but they are still among the best.

"It will be physical and tough, but we have to go out and play them with everything we have. It could be our last game, but we don't want that. We want to continue on in the tournament even further.

"For a couple of years the Germans had some troubles, but their strength is that they are a cohesive team, there's not as many individuals as there used to be, so they are a very dangerous team and one of the best here.

"It still looks doubtful that my injury will have cleared up in time. People have to get me out on the pitch to work and that isn't happening and I haven't got much time left."

Friedel has won rave notices here, and says of the big clash: "We are thinking a lot about Germany already, we are not a group of players who suddenly going to stop playing because we have made the quarter finals. That's history as far as the US is concerned. We are not like that.

"We will only be satisfied by winning it or getting knocked out fair and square and know we have poured our blood out on the field. That's what all the boys are like, and as long as we have a team it will always be like that.

"We can handle the physical side, we are not a small bunch of lads, so we can handle the tough side. As long as we do our defending properly we will do very well against Germany."