Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Spurs youngsters to take part in the Northern Ireland Milk Cup
Here is just a little information on the 30th Northern Ireland Milk Cup which I shall be attending.
The tournament is based in County Londonderry, using various club grounds around the area.
Full information can be found on their site: http://www.nimilkcup.org/
The tournament has three sections. Firstly Elite for national U-19 teams, secondly Premier for U-18 club sides and finally Junior for U-17 sides. Spurs will be playing in the Premier section which will include 19 other teams. There will be clubs from around the world playing, including Man Utd, Newcastle and Bolton from England.
Northern Ireland is represented by six County sides from the province itself. Each match is 35 minutes each way and unlike other tournaments, (which split the teams into groups with the top teams going on to the finals), the Milk Cup has all the teams in a single group.
The teams play three qualifying matches against other teams drawn from the same pot. The top four sides will then go into the Milk Cup semi-final. Teams finishing 5th-8th go into the semi-final of the NIMC Globe. Teams 9-12 will play for the NIMC Vase. Teams 13-16 will play for the NIMC Bowl, and teams 17-20 for the NIMC Plate on the next day.
Winning teams will play in the finals on the last day while losing teams will play a 3rd/4th place match.
In the qualifying matches, Spurs have been drawn to play Co. Armagh first on the 21st July at Shamrock Park, Portadown. The second game is on the 23rd July at Limavady against South Coast Strikers from the USA. The last game is against Otago from New Zealand at Coleraine on the 24th July. After that game the draw for the semi-final games will be made and venues decided.
Last year Spurs beat Co. Fermanagh and Otago but lost to South Coast Strikers to finish outside the top four and went into the Globe semi-finals beating Cherry Orchard from the Irish republic. They then played South Coast Strikers again in the final after they knocked out Bolton. After a 1-1 draw Spurs beat the Americans 5-3 on penalties to win the NIMC Globe finishing 5th overall.
This will be my first trip to Northern Ireland and I will be based in Coleraine so I am hoping for good weather for sight-seeing between matches.
The Spurs squad is as follows:-
Northern Ireland Milk Cup
Tottenham Hotspur Squad
Team Strip – 1) All White, 2) All Navy
1. Liam Priestley
2. Kane Vincent-Young
3. Connor Ogilvie
4. Kodi Lyons-Foster
5. Jon Magbagdelo
6. Anton Walkes
7. Channing Campbell-Young
8. Joe Pritchard
9. Cy Goddard
10. Luke Amos
11. William Miller
12. Harry Winks
13. Harry Voss
14. Shayon Harrison
15. Nathan Oduwa
16. Amon Walton-Owens
17. Anthony Georgiou
18. Emmanuel Sonupe
