Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
IMG Boys Invitation Tournament – Super group
Thursday 19th December 12.05pm – Round two
Baltimore Celtic 2(1) - 2(1) Spurs
Baltimore:– (White/Green) 4-1-3-1-1 – Sanchez, Macdonald, Graham(Wittman 46), Momoh, Collins, Gabarra(Lussi 46), Smith C., Barger(Garske 63), Hall(Singletary 90), Campbell, Wancowicz (Vandenberg 83)
Unused Subs:- Samuels, Friedlander, Shaifer, Griggs, Smith A., Welsh, Mirza, Hartheimer
Scorers:– Macdonald 7, Hall 46
Booked:– Graham 4(Foul), Collins 87(Foul), Hall 87(Foul)
Spurs:– (All Blue)4-3-3 – Priestley, Vincent-Young, McQueen, Walkes(Walker-Peters 73),
Ogivie(Amos 48), Lesniak, Miller, Goddard(Onomah 62), Michael-Percil, Sonupe(Oduwa 65),
Akindayini(Harrison 65)
Unused Subs:- McGee, Carter-Vickers, Winks, Pritchard
Scorers:– Ogilvie 29, Harrison 83
Spurs' second game was against what some consider the top football (Soccer) club in the States. They are like the Senrab club in London. They have won plenty of trophies and I understand that at least three of their squad won the chance to go to Hotspur Way for coaching in a recent Maryland competition held by Spurs. They lost their opening game to the hosts 3-0 yesterday. The midday kick-off meant that the conditions were hot and sunny with a breeze from the south.
Spurs lined up with Priestley in goal behind McQueen and Lesniak with Vincent-Young at right back and Ogilvie on the left. Walkes anchored the midfield with Goddard and Miller in support of Akindayini who led the line with Sonupe on the right flank and Michael-Percil on the left.
Spurs defended the south end in the first half and quickly used the wide players to stretch the Celtic defence. Miller drew an early save from Sanchez and with the midfield moving the ball well, the Celtic defenders were under pressure which led to Graham getting an early booking for diving in on Miller.
Things changed when Baltimore scored from a corner. Graham headed the ball back across the goal for Macdonald to head home. This gave the American team the confidence to play their own football which used the small Hall up front on his own. Hall is small but quick and strong which allowed him to get the better of his bigger markers often during the game.
Goddard fired over before a quick throw by Vincent-Young allowed Akindayini to get down the right and cross for Sonupe to turn over the bar. Priestley saved from Campbell before Ogilvie made a forage up-field winning a corner. The Spurs pressure finally told when Miller took a corner on the left driving the ball low into the near post where Michael-Percil turned the ball out for Ogivie to drive in off the keeper. Walkes drew a save from a right side corner and Sonupe saw his effort saved approaching half-time.
Baltimore got off to a flyer at the start of the second half when they won the ball and Hall ran onto a diagonal pass to get past Vincent-Young and fire in off the far post to regain the lead.
Ogilvie had a knock and was replaced soon after by Amos. Michael-Percil got down the right and crossed for Goddard to fire wide. Goddard made way for Onomah, Harrison replaced Akindayini up front and Oduwa came on for Sonupe on the left flank.
With the Celtic defence proving very resilient, Spurs pushed Lesniak into midfield going three at the back and then replaced Walkes with Walker-Peters in a more advanced role. Being light at the back Spurs were open to counter attacks and Priestley had to save from Campbell.
Lesniak played Onomah in for a chance that was saved. Oduwa was having a hard time getting down the left, asking for a penalty on two occasions as he went down under challenges. He kept trying and when he managed to stay on his feet his cross was converted by Harrison to draw Spurs level again.
When Vandenburg came on he was soon into the action turning a corner wide. Lesniak dropped back into defence and sent Walker-Peters on a run that was halted by Collins foul. Hall followed up with a kick while he was on the ground which started a confrontation between players on both sides. The referee booked both Celtic players and Hall was replaced soon after.
Sanchez saved a free kick by Onomah diving to his left while Priestley came out of his goal to get a long ball, kicking the ball to Smith who was unable to put the ball into the empty net. As full time was signalled Miller fired over from Onomah's cross and in added time a Harrison flick played in Onomah but Sanchez saved at his feet.
This was a case of two dropped points by Spurs against a good Baltimore side who came close themselves and will feel that they dropped the points. Spurs next game is against the US National U-17 side in the new IMG stadium kicking off at 5.30pm local time
In the other games Cruzerio beat the Alliance Academy 2-1 and Queretaro beat IMG Academy by the same score while Stevenage drew with the US National side. So after two games
P W D L F-A Pts.
Cruzeiro 2 2 0 0 5-2 6
Spurs 2 1 1 0 5-2 4
IMG 2 1 0 1 4-2 3
Alliance 2 1 0 1 3-1 3
Queretaro 2 1 0 1 2-4 3
Stevenage 2 0 1 1 2-4 1
US U-17 2 0 1 1 1-3 1
Baltimore 2 0 1 1 1-4 1
