“SOUNESS PLANTED THE FLAG, THEN FANS TRIED TO TIP OVER OUR BUS – BUT WHAT A GREAT EXPERIECE”

The keeper witnessed chaos in Turkey before finding the net for Blackburn – then breaking a Premier League record

Interview Sean Cole

FFT GRABS A WORD WITH...

BRAD FRIEDEL • GIANLUCA ZAMBROTTA • CARLOS CARVALHAL • MOHAMED SISSOKO

TEAMS UCLA Bruins Brondby Galatasaray Columbus Crew Liverpool Blackburn Aston Villa Tottenham USA

Was it always a dream to play in England?

Yes, Liverpool actually. When I was growing up in Cleveland, there was hardly any football on television, but I went on a family trip when I was 10 or 11 and watched Liverpool. I fell in love. From that point, I wanted to join them.

As a youngster, you had trials with English clubs but could never secure a work permit. How frustrating was that?

Very. I signed a contract with Newcastle and went there for three months while we tried to get my work permit through on appeal. Then I signed a contract with Sunderland, but that got denied too. I tried again at Southampton as well. I had a trial at Celtic and was offered a contract, but didn’t accept it – I’m not sure I’d have got a permit there, either. You had to feature in 75 per cent of your national team’s matches for the previous two seasons, which was hard to do as a young keeper. But it took me to Brondby and Galatasaray – I wouldn’t have had those experiences otherwise.