Fox soccer analyst Brad Friedel to coach U.S. U-19 team

One of Fox’s analysts will go from discussing coaches’ performance to being one. Nineteen-year Premier League veteran and long-time U.S. international keeper Brad Friedel began a broadcasting career in England in 2014 while still playing, and he joined Fox in December 2014. He’s been doing even more for them since retiring from playing last May. Now, Friedel has received his first head-coaching job, being officially picked to lead the U.S. U-19 team Tuesday, a move initially reported by Empire of Soccer back in December. According to Empire of Soccer’s Dave Martinez, Friedel is likely to continue as a Fox analyst as well:

In his post-playing career, Friedel has featured with both BBC and FOX as a television commentator. He will continue to serve in his role with FOX as he assumes the reins of the USMNT U-19 program.

Like former teammates Clint Mathis and Tony Meola before him, Friedel has volunteered time with Tab Ramos at the U-20 level, lending his experience to the youth side. This role as U-19 coach, however, will be his first professional coaching role of any capacity.

Friedel certainly has impressive playing credentials, including 82 international caps for the U.S. and three trips to the World Cup, plus a Premier League-record 310 consecutive appearances. He has done some work on the coaching side before, too, mostly focusing on young players, so this may be a good fit for him. It’s going to be interesting to see how this affects his analysis, though; Friedel has been quite solid as a Fox analyst so far, but will it be tougher for him to comment honestly on soccer in the U.S. now that he has a significant role in the national team structure? How much time will he have for TV analysis gigs, given the demands of the coaching job? And will Fox offer any disclaimers on his analysis? We’ll have to wait and see.