Friedel's Streak Is Over - NYTimes.com There was an American in Tottenham Hotspur's starting 11 against visiting Aston Villa on Sunday in north London. Just not that American. For the first time in eight seasons of service in England's Premier League, the American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, 41, watched a match from the substitute's bench. He was relegated to spectator by Spurs' Coach Andre Villas-Boas for the match against one of Friedel's former clubs, Aston Villa ,that ended in a 2-0 win for the home team. The ultimate coincidence is that the keeper for Villa was another American, Brad Guzan, who has supplanted the high-priced player, Shay Given, who was obtained in the off-season. It should also be noted that Friedel was with the U.S. national team for three World Cups. At White Hart Lane, Friedel's streak of 310 starts ended when Villas-Boas chose the France international Hugo Lloris, acquired from Lyon for a $12.6 million transfer fee over the summer, to start against Villa. To make matters more dicey for Friedel, Lloris notched Tottenham's first shutout of the season. It was the first Premier League start for Lloris at Spurs; he had played for the club in a Europa League match earlier. Spurs was coming off a 3-2 loss at Manchester United last week. Friedel, who has also played for Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Galatasaray in Europe, was last on the bench for the start of a match in England in May 2004. In France, the notion of keeping the country's No. 1 keeper on the bench for an aging American was incomprehensible. Before Sunday's match, Lloris told The Guardian: "I'm not crazy. I didn't come to Tottenham to stay on the bench I see the situation calmly. I've just moved in. It's all positive. Of course I would prefer to play more. At Lyon I played every three or four days. Now I know that this is just a phase and that it will sort itself out. Consider it sorted out. Oh, and that other American who started for Spurs -- Clint Dempsey, of course. Dempsey was replaced by the Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson in the 82nd minute.