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Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Once again, Ray Lo has travelled to watch a young Spurs team in tournament play:-
This is a brief introduction to the Eurofoot tournament, taking place in Oostduinkere in Belgium.
The tournament is for U19's (players born 1994-5 inclusive). Teams may include up to 5 younger players, which for Spurs is a good thing. There are 12 teams split into two groups Spurs are in Group B with Atletico Paranaense (Brazil), SV Zulte Waregam (Netherlands), Club Brugge (Belgium), Standard Luik (Belgium) and FC Utrecht (Netherlands).
Each team will play the others over two days in matches of 50 minutes duration. On Sunday the top two teams will play the top two from Group A (1st play 2nd) in the semi-finals while the other sides will play the corresponding team from the other group(3rd v 3rd, 4th v 4th etc.).
The winners of the semi-finals will play each other after the losers play off for 3rd place. That match ends the tournament and will be played over 60 minutes. Penalties will decide any drawn game on Sunday.
Spurs first games yesterday (Friday 3rd August, 2012) were against Atletico Paranaense at 11.45am local time followed by Zulte Waregam at 3pm. They play three games today (Saturday) starting with FC Utrecht at 11.15am. Second up is Club Brugge at 2.30pm and they finish with Standard Luik at 7.30pm.
Spurs have a good record in recent years so hopefully they will make the semi-finals which kick off at 11am on Sunday.
Here is Ray's first match report, on a defeat by Atletico Paranaense:-
Eurofoot 2012 Group B, 1st. game
Hazebeek Sportpark, Oostduinkerke
Friday 3rd August 2012, 11.45am
SPURS v Atl. PARANAENSE
(All White) (Red/Black)
4-3-3 4-4-2
1(1) 4(3)
(Squad Numbers)
Billy Granger 1 Matheus Kayser
Grant Ward 2 Jean Silva
Samuel Smith 3 Erwin Spitzner
Joshua Onomah 4 Rafael Zuchi
Alex McQueen 5 Maycon Mansano
Dominic Ball 6 Anderson Tasca
Kenneth McEvoy 7 Hermani Azevedo
Ruben Lameiras 8 Otavio Santos
Victor
Zapata-Caicedo 9 Guilherme Schettine
Darren McQueen 10 Marcos Almeida
Stefan Colovic 11 Douglas Souza
Daniel Akindayini12 Matheus Carneiro
Liam Priestley 13 Layo Neves
Thomas Gardiner 14 Rodrigo Cruz
Aaron McEneff 15 Bruno Miranda
Filip Lesniak 16
Roman
Michael-Percil 17
Shaq. Coulthirst 18
Subs:-
Spurs - Michael-Percil(McEvoy 35),
Paranaense - Miranda(Santos 35), Neves(Azevedo 41), Cruz(Mansano 45)
Scorers:-
Spurs:- Coulthirst 24
Paranaense:- Souza 2, 4, 19
Almeida 30
Booked:-
Azevedo 41
It was a warm sunny morning for the start of Eurofoot. West Ham and Club Brugge got off to winning starts in group A before the second round of games. The opening group B game saw Spurs take on the Brazilian club Atletico Paranaense.
Spurs lined up with Granger in goal behind captain Ball and Alex McQueen, with Ward at right back and Smith on the left. The midfield trio was Lameiras with new boys McEneff and Onomah. Zapata-Caicedo started up front with McEvoy on his right and Coulthirst on the left.
Spurs kicked off attacking the southern goal with both sides feeling each other out. Ball lost the ball to Schettine who fired wide after only a minute which should have been a warning not to take chances. Granger saw his clearing kick go to a Brazilian on his right. The ball was worked to the other side where Souza drove it past him for the opening goal.
Two minutes later and it was 2-0 when an attempted header back to the keeper by Ward fell for Souza who went away to score under Granger. Granger prevented Souza getting an early hat-trick by saving his low drive right after that.
Zapata-Caicedo fired wide from McEvoy's knock down for Spurs first chance. When Ball stretched for a through ball he could only head it into the path of Souza who accepted it and went on to make it 3-0 and a hat-trick within 19 minutes. Spurs pulled a goal back when Onomah lifted the ball over the Atletico defence for Zapata-Caicedo to chase. Coulthirst latched onto the half clearance to fire in across the keeper.
There were no changes for the start of the second half with Paranaense still looking for more goals. Azevedo drew a save from Granger before they got a fourth. Tasca fired in an effort from long range that Granger half saved. As it spun behind him he managed to reach back and hook it out, but it fell for two on-rushing Paranaense players. I think it was Almeida that got the final touch. Schettine fired wide before McEvoy drove wide for Spurs. McEvoy gave way to Michael-Percil as both sides began to make changes.
Ball carried the ball out of defence down the right before crossing for Onomah to fire over. Azevedo was replaced after he picked up a yellow card for not retreating ten yards at a free kick. His replacement was soon involved in the action, drawing a save from Granger.
Coulthirst fired in an effort from the right that Kayser saved with the ball dropping to Lameiras whose shot was blocked. Lameiras had another drive deflected wide for a corner before Santos saw his effort saved. The Brazilians saw out the final minutes as Spurs tried to push forward.
Mistakes in the first half saw this game go beyond Spurs reach. The midfield trio showed good skills but have not settled into any pattern with players moving around so much that they could not find each other. The two wide front players are more used to playing behind the central striker and have not adapted to being so high up the pitch and so are not connecting with the attacking full backs as well as last season. This will come with practice. The next game will see the rest of the squad getting a start as rotating the players is a must for the schedule ahead. Club Brugge beat Zulte Waregem 3-0 in the other group game.
Ray
· Spurs 2 SV Zulte-Waregem 1
· Spurs 0 FC Utrecht 1
· Spurs 1 Club Brugge 2
· Spurs 1 Standard Luik 2
· Spurs 1 Anderlecht 1 (Spurs win 3-1 on pens)
· Eurofoot Tournament Homepage
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