Brad's early exit

With Rovers now safe from the threat of relegation, the United States international has been given special permission by manager Graeme Souness to link up with his international team-mates for a 10-day training camp at the State Capital Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

That means 30-year-old shot-stopper will now miss Rovers' last two games of the season against his old club Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday May 8 and then the visit of Fulham three days later.

But, though he's disappointed to be missing the end of the Premiership season, he admits he is now being consumed by World Cup fever.

"It's a shame I can't stay for the last two games of the season, especially given the celebrations at the last game of the season and the fact that Liverpool are my old club," said Friedel.

"But I've stayed here and missed a lot of US games over the course of the season in order to make sure Blackburn were safe.

"And now that we are, I can finally focus on the World Cup.

"My national team manager has been very good about it all.

"I know there's a lot of club versus country rows but I firmly believe a player needs to stay loyal to the club who are paying his wages and that's what I did.

"However, now I concentrate on the World Cup and it's exciting.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet because I'm coming off the back of a long season here.

"But give me 10 days and it will start to hit home."

The decision to allow Friedel to return early to the States was effectively made last year after he missed a vital World Cup qualifier in order to play in Rovers' away game at Grimsby during the promotion run-in.

Since then he has also missed a series of qualifiers and friendlies in favour of playing in the Premiership.

So when US coach Bruce Arena asked if Friedel could finish the season early, Rovers were more than happy to repay the favour once they knew their relegation fight wasn't going to go down to the wire.

"It goes back to last season. When we played Grimsby the United States had a World Cup qualifier but I asked to stay here because it was massively important to the club that we got promoted," explained Friedel.

"So I chose club before country on that occasion and I had a chat with the manager who wasn't particularly happy about it but he understood as well.

"Then from November until now, we've probably had another 10 or so games and I've only gone over for two of them and played a game and a half.

"That was at Blackburn's request because they wanted to keep me as fresh as possible but I think my international manager also understands the benefits of me playing Premiership football as well.

"If there was any question of us going down then I definitely would have stayed without a shadow of a doubt.

"But the fact we are safe and we've only got a couple of games left gave me the opportunity to go early."

Friedel, who is set to appear at his third consecutive World Cup finals, now faces a hectic schedule over the next three weeks as the United States' begin their preparations for Japan and Korea.

The 23-man squad are due to link up in Cary tomorrow before embarking on the team's three-game 'Nike Road to Korea'.

They are due to face Uruguay on May 12 at the RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. from where they will then travel north to face Jamaica on May 16 at the Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey before playing their final World Cup send-off match against Holland on May 19 at the new CMGI Field in Boston.

However, that means he will now miss out on the end-of-season celebrations at Ewood when Rovers are due to parade the Worthington Cup after the final home game against Fulham.

"I just want to say a big thank-you to the fans this season on behalf of the whole team," said Friedel. "Even when we were going through a bad patch they were fantastic and I really wish I could be there to say goodbye to them for the summer.

"But I'll be back in July and who knows, we might embark on another cup run in either the FA Cup or the UEFA Cup and maybe lift another trophy."