As promised, here is a match report from our man on the spot - "Johnny Hotspur":-
Tottenham: Cerny, Marney, Bunjevcevic, King (Huddlestone 75), Dawson (Gardner 62), Tainio, Carrick, Mendes, Reid (El-Hamdaoui 77), Defoe (Routledge 64), Mido (Keane 80).
Subs: Fulop, Burch, Edman, Davenport. Lennon, Kanoute.
Boca: ????
It's hot & humid in Suwon but very bearable, and so perfect weather to drink and watch the Spurs play a game of football. It's the World Cup stadium, a great location that has hosted some of the best teams in the world, like Brazil, Spurs, Ireland, and Suwon Blue Wings, one of the K-League's better teams and where the fans decided to come right out and support Boca ~ what a cheek!
So in we went, into the stadium, late, clutching various odd souvenirs that the Peace Cup organisers had given us free ~ to cheers, as Boca took the lead against us. Oh. A quick look around and Spurs lined up thus, in their new, non-traditional but honestly, reasonably sharp new shirts:
In goal, Radek Cerny; Paul Robinson was seated in the seats and by accounts pretty approachable by the fans; in d from left to right, Bunjevcevic, King, Dawson and Marney; in mid, Reid, Mendes, Carrick and Tainio; up front Defoe and Mido. Up and down the touchline were running another stack of footballing talent ~ Routledge, Lennon, Huddlestone, Keane, Kanoute, Hamdaoui, Gardner and Edman ~ have Spurs ever been this stacked with good players before ever, ever? We're gonna finish 5th this season...
With the Korean fans over-reacting to any piece of Boca skill whatsoever, the game unfolded and Spurs asserted themselves as somewhat of a proud, bubbly, confident young, happening team. At the back, the central pair of King and especially Dawson were very present to anything Boca threw at us, while in midfield, Mendes and also Tainio were looking very solid. Mendes can turn and switch up play "just like that", while Tainio knows how to ping an accurate crossfield pass, and he did it quite a lot in the first half.
It might have been the alcohol, but the impression was that Spurs were clearly the better team in the first half.
And then we scored a super equaliser. Someone found Jermaine Defoe with a through pass on the right side of the box, he had the aggression to get there first and muscle off two defenders, and slam a shot across the goalie into the left side of the net. It was a very nice goal, the sort you need to be a very good striker to score. We Spurs fans all cheered like it was important for a minute, and then sobered up after a couple of moments ~ it's the Peace Cup, not the Premier League...
That was around half an hour in, and at this point it felt like a solid win for Spurs; even better when Mido casually flicked another through pass, this time from Mendes, past the keeper for 2-1. It just rolled in lazily, and Spurs were in front, while Boca Juniors were behind now and looking like a 4-1 beating.
Does anyone like the Boca shirts? It occurred to me that they are pretty much the exact same colour as our new away shirts. They looked all right on Boca..
Up and down the line ran Chris Hughton, looking sharp, like he half expected to come on for a bit. Does he live at White Hart Lane? They'll eventually carry him out of there in a wooden box..
It was a pretty happy half-time; Spurs'd just survived a cool backheel flick at Cerny but had asserted themselves against a big team and enjoyed the game. The fans though ~ we all wished, in our seats all over the stadium, that they'd put us all together, but they didn't. There were sections of the stadium, and the fans were dispersed and away from each other. My group was near some local English people that were singing "We hate Tottenham" at us ~ it was funny, but you had the impression that there were some of us that had travelled halfway across the world for the craic and were wondering where it was. Shall we all sit in the NORTH STAND LOWER for the Sundowns game, people, people? I know you are out there reading this..
Second half then, and a brilliant shot well saved by Cerny. "Robinson must be well worried." And it went on thus, the first 15 of the second half was pretty much all Boca, although Spurs managed to break away via Reid, who shot right at the keeper.
Defoe chased a pass out to the touchline but never quite kept it in, and ~ funniest moment of the game ~ threw the ball out as hard as he could without looking, in frustration; there is a teenage boy inside Jermaine Defoe and you got to love him for that. Thing was, it went right at the Spurs bench, who cracked up laughing at it.
On came Wayne Routledge, and the first of (too) many Spurs substitutions that just made us lose our thread, go flat, while Boca kept it steady, and the second half was like that; Boca pressing and Spurs breaking.
Routledge was full of flair. He can change direction in a split second, and the guy has some clear dribbling ability, plus speed. Basically, he looks like a good old tricky winger that will cause trouble for left-backs all year.
But in cut Boca who shoot and score a good goal for 2-2, while Spurs rotate and rotate. On come Huddlestone in defence, Hamdaoui, Keane, and Gardner (who is going to need a little remotivating after the Charlton thing).
Dawson was perfect all night until he broke his nose; maybe we do need all those players after all. On Dawson, I would say that this guy will be a "favourite player" for a lot of Spurs fans, as he is sharp and focused but he's got a fair share of that "mean when you got to be" that defenders need.
Naybet, please teach him everything you know..
On the final whistle, it was a bit disappointing because we could have had 'em, and we let 'em back. The players all warmed down afterwards on the field, which is just the kind of professional thing they should be doing. I had a little shouty banter with Hans Segers after but that was that and it's Sundowns on Monday. We might be in a scoring race with Boca now to see who finishes top. Hmm, we can totally do it. We have Sundowns, and I feel that others might now get a start ~ hopefully Huddlestone, who is a giant, and I'm eager to see how he gets on.
Well, until then~~thanks for reading.
Johnny Hotspur.
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