Eurofoot 2014 Day 1
Hazebeek Stadium, Oostduinkere, Belgium
           Friday August 1st 2014

    10.30am - Spurs 0 v 2 Cercle Brugge

Spurs(White/Blue) – 4-3-3 – Glover, Walker-Peters, Maghoma, Carter-Vickers, Muscatt(Daly 46), Lloyd(Goddard 26), Pritchard(C), Amos(Walkes 26), Azzaoui, Harrison(Loft 32), Georgiou

Booked – Lloyd 19(Push), Maghoma 32(Foul), Loft 50(Foul)

Cercle Brugge(Orange/Black) – Seron(Gheeraert 36), Verstraete, Dewaele, Verkindere, De Schrijver, Cafmeyer(C), Van Craeyveld(Ryckaert 34), Vanysacker, Deschuyter, Van Caelenberghe

Booked – Deschuyter 13(Foul)

Scorers – Dewaele (pen)4, Verkindere 50+1

Spurs kicked off this year's tournament on pitch 2 against the second Brugge team. They lined up with Glover in goal behind Maghoma and Carter-Vickers with Walker-Peters at right back and Muscatt on the left. With a midfield trio of Amos, Pritchard and Ross behind a front three led by Harrison with Azzaoui on the right and Georgiou on the left.

It looked good on paper but the Belgians were quick and tough, which knocked Spurs flowing football for six. Spurs were not able to pass and move well and Muscatt was under pressure from Verkindere with little support as they tried to find their feet.

Conceding a free kick on the left they fell behind when the ball was headed back across the goal and Glover was adjudged to have fouled the Brugge forward(video showed that he tripped himself up). Dewaele scored from the penalty sending the keeper the wrong way.

Pritchard fired wide from Walker-Peters' cross and when Spurs broke from a Brugge free kick, Deschuyter was booked for hauling Georgiou down. Spurs began to get into the game with the keeper saving Carter-Vickers' header from a free kick. When Pritchard was fouled in the centre circle Ross pushed the offender and got a yellow card for his trouble. Brugge almost increased their lead when Calmeyer was released on the left and he struck the far post with his low cross shot. The player following up cleared the crossbar.

Spurs made two changes for the second half replacing Amos with Walkes. Goddard took the place of Ross. The half-time talk had had an effect as Spurs began to push forward more. Georgiou had made a couple of good runs in the first half, and picked up the ball near the halfway line, dribbling forward, breaking tackles, before coming inside and forcing a save that Azzaoui hit over the bar following up.

Maghoma then picked up a booking for preventing Calmeyer going through the middle. Harrison was replaced by Loft who quickly put himself about. Dewaele brought a save from Glover after his free kick was blocked. After Loft drew a save from the keeper, Brugge closed the game down making a couple of changes to waste time. Loft was booked for a silly foul on the keeper as time was running out and just before time Spurs were caught out with a sucker punch. Maghoma headed out a long ball down the middle only for it to fall to an orange shirt who played the ball behind for Verkindere to run onto and score a second.

        4.15pm FC Utrecht 0 v 3 Spurs

Spurs(White/Blue) – 4-3-3 – Glover, Hayford, Maghoma, Walkes, Walker-Peters(Muscatt 31), Goddard, Pritchard(C)(Amos 26), Owens(Ross 33), Daly, Loft, Georgiou(Azzaoui 26)

Scorers – Goddard 16, Pritchard 21, Maghoma 24

FC Utrecht(Blue) – Prinssen, Vreekamp(Emerencia 26), Admiraal(Janssen 26), Ramselaar, Vittleveen, Loukili, Kallon, Zwart, Spruit, Wicherink, Hak(Bark 39)

Booked – Vreekamp 15(Foul)

For the second match Spurs lined up with Glover in goal behind Maghoma and Walkes with Hayford at right back and Walker-Peters on the left. The midfield trio was Goddard, Pritchard and Owens. Loft led the line with Daly on his right and Georgiou on the left.

Spurs were quick out of the blocks, using both wide men down the flanks to get behind the Dutch defence. Daly whipped in an early cross that failed to find Loft in the six yard box. The striker did meet Georgiou's cross to draw a save from Prinssen a minute later. Pritchard played in Daly on the right for the winger to drive into the area only to hit the side netting.

Walker-Peters made a run down the left, cutting inside to fire just wide. Pressure finally told when Loft was played in only to be pulled back by Vreekamp on the edge of the area. Goddard stepped up to curl the ball over the wall into the top corner at the near post to put Spurs in front. Five minutes later Spurs doubled their lead when another great run by Georgiou ended with a deflected shot hitting the crossbar coming out to Pritchard who headed home.

Three minutes later, Spurs won a free kick on the right of the area. Georgiou curled it into the goalmouth for Maghoma to back head it into the goal. Three goals inside ten minutes had settled the game and Spurs made changes to rest players in the second half.

Pritchard was replaced by Amos during the interval with Walkes taking the armband for the second half. Georgiou was also replaced by Azzaoui for the second half. Not long into the half, with Utrecht not making inroads, Spurs took off Walker-Peters for Muscatt and Ross came on for Owens. With Spurs cruising Utrecht could not find a way through and when Witteveen did play in Ramselaar for a chance Glover saved his effort. Spurs almost had a fourth when Azzaoui worked his way deep into the area only to see his effort cleared off the line.

The results for Group A were:-

Cercle Brugge 2 Spurs 0
Mechelen 0 Club Brugge 2
Genk 2 FC Utrecht 0
Mechelen 1 Cercle Brugge 2
FC Utrecht 0 Spurs 3
Club Brugge 1 Genk 2

The Group Tables are:-

KRC Genk       6pts    Atletico Paranaesne  6pts
Cercle Brugge  6pts    Nordsjaelland        6pts
Club Brugge    3pts    West Ham United      6pts
Spurs          3pts    Anderlecht           0pts
Mechelen       0pts    Standard Luik        0pts
FC Utrecht     0pts    Ostende              0pts

Ray

· Eurofoot 2014 Day Two reports
· Eurofoot 2014 Semi-Final report
· Eurofoot 2014 Third/Fourth place play-off report

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