No stopping now for Friedel

Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel says he is fit and hungry enough to keep playing for years to come.

The 40-year-old American is under contract at the English Premier League club until the end of the 2012/13 campaign but said he felt he could keep going beyond that.

“If you can keep yourself free of major injury and you want to keep playing, then you can go much longer than an outfield player could,” Friedel told The Sun.

“It can be done if you want it – and I do.”

The former Aston Villa shot-stopper’s run of consecutive Premier League matches now stands at 277, and Friedel believes the nuances of the modern game help goalkeepers to carry on longer than in the past.

“These days with all the focus on nutrition and health, together with the less distance we have to cover in training and in matches, why shouldn’t a goalkeeper play well into his 40s?” he said.

“My body doesn’t feel the way someone might think a 40-year-old should feel.”

“I don’t wake up every morning and think, ‘Oh no, I’m 40, I don’t feel like training today’.”

The former Liverpool and Blackburn custodian has helped Spurs to a nine-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, lifting them to third in the table.