Troy Perkins: Goalkeeper, Commando (by Jack Bell, NY Times)

Troy Perkins could make his first appearance for the United States national team Saturday, against Sweden. But before having the opportunity to step between the pipes at the Home Depot Center he had to deal with a little detour — a 5,338-mile detour.

Perkins was called into training camp by Coach Bob Bradley, with one stipulation from Perkins’s club team in the Norwegian Tippeligaen, Valerenga IF Oslo: he would have to return to Scandinavia for a three-day team-building exercise supervised by a unit of the Norwegian Special Forces.

“It was a great experience,” Perkins said in a telephone interview from camp in Carson, Calif., where he had returned on Jan. 16 after making the trip from Los Angeles to Oslo, via Amsterdam, on Jan. 11. “It was quite a long trip, 11 and a half hours. At first when I heard about it I thought it was a bunch of crap. But after being back here for two days and having a chance to reflect on it it was fantastic.”

Perkins provides intimate and chilling details of his experience on the United States men’s national team blog.


Perkins is one of four goalkeepers in camp — Jon Busch (Chicago), Will Hesmer (Columbus) and Matt Pickens (Colorado) are the others — with the American men as they prepare for Saturday’s exhibition match against Sweden. Because the match does not fall on one of FIFA’s official international dates, Bradley’s roster is primarily composed of players from Major League Soccer teams. Perkins’s new season in Norway does not begin until the middle of March.

Although he may be down the totem pole of American keepers, certainly behind No. 1 Tim Howard (Everton/England) and No. 2 Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/England), Perkins hopes to occupy the No. 3 position when World Cup qualifying begins next month with a game against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 11.

“All of us here are probably fighting for the third spot behind Timmy and Brad,” Perkins said. “You have to fight for whatever you can get. I learned a valuable lesson a few years ago — you train, train, train and still might not get a chance to play. It’s can be frustrating, but on the flip side you have to make a good impression because you just don’t know what the future holds.”

Perkins, 27, is from Springfield, Ohio. He went undrafted after playing his senior season at the University of Evansville in Indiana. He signed with D.C. United and went on to play in 177 games for the club before signing a five-year deal with Valerenga in December 2007. He was the first American signed by the club in its history. Perkins is one of several players sent to teams in Scandinavia by the agent Patrick McCabe.

“He had a hell of an experience,” McCabe said in a telephone interview, referring to Perkins’s three-day boot camp in Norway. “They insisted that Troy be there because he is an important part of their team, one of their leaders. It’s such a great thing, I don’t quite understand why no teams in American sports do something similar.”

According to Perkins, all of the club’s players were whisked to a fort that was built in 1915 to defend Norway in its wars against neighboring Sweden (what a coincidence that the United States, and perhaps Perkins will face Sweden on Saturday). What followed were challenging exercises in freezing weather.

“It was about seeing how guys handle pressure, finding ourselves as a team,” Perkins said. “The first day sucked — it was like boot camp, no lie. Sometimes you question whether guys have what it takes to win, how they will handle hard times and how far they will push themselves. Seeing how guys reacted really changed my views a lot.

“What did I learn? Really just how to take a step back from things. To be a leader you can’t hop onto things and jump right in. That’s never really been an issue for me because I think I’ve been able to handle situations. But what I realized is that guys don’t want to hear yelling at them.”

“Last year was not a good one for us,” said Perkins about Valerenga’s 10th-place finish in his first full season in Norway (although the club did win the Norwegian Cup). “We had new management, new players. But when it comes down to it we just didn’t do our jobs, but I also think it goes back to the three days we just spent doing training. We all learned a lot, but mostly, do your job and everything else will fall into place.”

As he is about to enter his second full season in Norway (his wife stayed behind in Oslo where she will soon give birth to the couple’s first child) Perkins said he has been seduced by life in Europe and might even decide to stay after his playing days.

“I feel I’ve made huge strides in my life, more so off the field,” he said. “A lot of guys don’t realize that when you go to a foreign country to play they leave you to yourself to figure things out. It’s not an easy thing. But for me, it’s been a great move.”

He added: “I like the European life very much. Norway is a clean and friendly place. Everyone speaks English. Both my wife and I are enjoying it. Will we stay? I’m sure her family will have something to say.”

Perkins was asked about the biggest differences, in his view, between American team sports and what he has experienced so far in Europe.

“In the U.S., the talk about team is mostly that, talk,” he said. “So often, with the American mentality there is a team, but on every team there seems to be an individual who gets more attention. If a team wins, it’s never collectively, it’s always because of good individual efforts that contribute to the whole. Stuff like ‘the team did O.K., but this guy made the difference.’ You don’t see that as much in Europe. It’s more a collective effort to achieving, while it’s very American to celebrate the individual.”