by Greg Seltzer for Soccer365

A handful of clubs employing Americans were in action on Monday night, including Brad Friedel's Aston Villa, who scored a big 2-1 win at Tottenham.

With fellow American Brad Guzan dressed as back-up for the first time, the Villans generally cruised on early-in-the-period goals from Nigel Reo-Coker and Ashley Young in either half.

Friedel's biggest stop of the night was a cat-like job on Spurs winger Aaron Lennon.

In Germany's second division, Gregg Berhalter returned to the 1860 Munich line-up for 90 minutes of solid central defense in a 2-0 victory over guests Duisburg.

Next door in the Dutch second flight, Charles Kazlauskas and TOP Oss saw their winning ways come to an end with a 3-1 defeat at VVV Venlo.

The versatile American went the distance in central defense after playing as a right winger on Friday, but the visitors always looked in trouble after skipper Dirk Schoofs was sent off at the half hour with his team already down a goal.

In Sweden, Ljungskile defender Etchu Tabe put in a very strong 90 minutes and netminder Colin Burns notched the shutout as Ljungskile battled visiting Trelleborg to a scoreless draw.

Finally, in Norway's top flight, Troy Perkins was outstanding in goal, but his Vålerenga dropped a galling 2-1 decision at home to FC Lyn.

Soccer365 reporter Greg Seltzer blogs daily over at No Short Corners.

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