Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
IMG Boys Invitation Tournament – Super group
Sunday 22nd December 8am – Round Four
Cruzeiro 1(1) v 1(1) Spurs
Cruzerio:– (All White)4-3-3 – Franca, Pinto Junior, Goncalves, De Faria, Rodrigues,
Filho(De Aquino 72), Marchiote, De Souza(Louzada 65), Felisberto(Machado 76), Ribeiro(Da Silva 87), Franco(Noleto 53)
Unused:– Do Amaral, Paim.
Scorer:– Franco 1
Booked:– Marchiote 16(Obstruction), Machado 77(Foul), Noleto 90+7(10 yds)
Spurs:– (All Blue)4-3-3 – McGee,Walker-Peters, Carter-Vickers, McQueen, Ogilvie,
Lesniak(Walkes 77), Onomah, Winks(Harrison 56), Michael-Percil(Sonupe 53), Miller(Akindayini 72) Oduwa(Goddard 90)
Unused Subs:- Priestley, Vincent-Young, Amos, Pritchard,
Scorer:– Onomah 5
Booked:– Oduwa 9(UGC), McQueen 40(Foul) , 90+2(Abuse)-Red
It was a hot morning for this early start which saw the top two teams meeting for what was in effect the decider of the tournament. Despite having the better goal difference, Spurs had dropped two points to Baltimore Celtic earlier in the competition making the Brazilians the favourites.
Spurs lined up with McGee in goal behind Carter-Vickers and McQueen with Walker-Peters on the right side and Ogilvie on the left. Lesniak anchored the midfield with Winks and Onomah alongside him. Up front, Miller led the line with Michael-Percil on the right and Oduwa on the left.
Spurs defended the north end in the first half but were caught cold when Cruzerio attacked down the right and crossed for Franca at the far post to volley home to put them in front. They had a chance to increase that lead when Franco crossed for De Souza. De Faria headed wide from the corner.
Spurs were level when Winks dinked the ball over the defence for Onomah to run onto and fire into the net.
With the Brazilians tackling 'hard', Spurs kept losing the ball which suited the pace of their counter-attacking style. Filho fired wide and Franco headed wide from a corner. Oduwa was booked for an unnecessary foul on the keeper as the frustration of not getting a clean run with the ball got to him. Rodrigues drove wide before Marchiote body-checked Winks to go into the ref's book. Franco hit the post from just inside the area as Spurs struggled to come to terms with the physical style of play.
Winks played a one two from a corner before finding McQueen who turned it over the bar. De Souza fired over twice from good positions before McQueen went into the ref's book for a foul. Felisberto drove wide as the half ended.
The second half started in similar fashion with Ribeiro drawing a save from McGee and Oduwa firing wide from a short corner by Winks, Sonupe came on for Michael-Percil to keep the width as Roman had taken a knock. Winks also made way for Harrison to lead the line with Miller dropping into midfield.
Spurs were now beginning to string passes together and push the Brazilians back into their own half. Carter-Vickers headed over from a corner. Cruzerio made a couple of changes themselves to help defend their goal but were still dangerous on the break as shown when Felisberto fired wide. While Spurs added another striker in Akindayini to replace Miller, Cruzeiro took off Felisberto for a defender. That defender was booked inside a minute of coming on for a foul on Akindayini as they looked to protect what they had.
Cruzeiro had begun time-wasting in an effort to finish the game on level terms. Lesniak was replaced by Walkes as Spurs went to three at the back pushing McQueen up front. Ogilvie saw his free kick deflected over for a corner. It was all Spurs - pushing for that winning goal - but they nearly got caught out by Noleto who should have scored.
Even McGee was coming up for set pieces. Spurs struck the far post from a free kick and as the ball came back across goal McQueen dived to head it in. With Spurs thinking that they had got the winner the linesman's flag was raised for offside. McQueen was booked for his protests and was sent off as it was his second yellow. Oduwa had to be replaced by Goddard at the same time.
Ogilvie drove in an effort from the edge of the area that the keeper pushed onto the bar. The Cruzeiro coach was sent from the bench with tempers rising as added time continued. Noleto was booked for not retreating 10 yards at the last free kick. The ref finally blew for time after adding almost nine minutes to the relief of the Brazilian players.
Spurs did well and were arguably the best team of the tournament. They had to contend with a style of tackling that they were not used to and but for a poor result against Celtic would have won the tournament. Queretaro, who's nickname is the fighting roosters, had a rearranged game against the US U-17 side instead of Stevenage, so missed out on a chance for second. The squad return to England today for Christmas before going to Vietnam at the beginning of January. I have to stay another day in this repressive heat before returning to some decent weather.I blame the blue kit for not winning the tournament as they failed to win either game in which they wore it!
P W D L F-A Pts.
Cruzeiro 4 3 1 0 9-3 10
Spurs 4 2 2 0 12-5 8
Stevenage 4 2 1 1 6-5 7
Queretaro 3 2 0 1 4-5 6
Alliance 4 1 0 3 4-5 3
IMG 4 1 0 3 4-7 3
US U-17 3 0 1 2 3-9 1
Baltimore 4 1 1 2 4-7 4
