Volksbank Cup 2017 – Day 2
Friday 26th May, 2017

On the second day Spurs' last two games were against overnight leaders Red Bull Brazil and bottom club Muhlenkreis. The first two games saw Werder Bremen beat Red Bull to go top and Copenhagen beat Muhlenkreis to go into third.

         Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Red Bull Brazil
            (White/Blue)       (Black/Yellow)
              4-1-4-1             4-3-3

Spurs(4-1-4-1):– Whiteman; Lock, Omolabi, Marsh(Griffiths 24), Brown; Tsaroulla; Shashoua, Edwards, Roles, Georgiou(Bennetts 21); Harrison(C)

Booked:– Tsaroulla 33(Late)

Red Bull:– Esteves da Costa; Landgraf, Da Sousa Monteiro, Xavier Gazel, V.H. De Oliveira; Araujo Vieira(B.F. De Olivieira 27), De Cruz Albuque(Cardoso Soares 36), Campagnol Bocchio; Ramos Paiva, De Paula Nascimento, Lima Ferreira

Scorers:– De Paula Nascimento 29, Aparecido de Souza Junior 40

Spurs lined up with Whiteman in goal behind Omolabi and Marsh with Lock at right back and Brown on the left. Tsaroulla anchored the midfield, with Edwards and Roles ahead of him flanked by Shashoua on the right and Georgiou on the left in support of Harrison up front. Against such a powerful side this was just about the strongest line-up Spurs could put out with a possible semi-final place at stake due to Red Bull's earlier loss.

Spurs began well seeking to run at the Brazilians with Harrison drawing a save from Georgiou's cross. However, Red Bull are good at pressing high and winning the ball, and that saw Campagnol Bocchio bring a save out of Whiteman. Edwards got into the area but his effort was saved by the keeper for a corner from which Roles headed wide. Roles had another header from a cross by Georgiou that was over the bar.

Georgiou was replaced by Bennetts for the second half which saw Red Bull getting more turnovers with De Paula Nascimento and then Ramos Pavia drawing saves from Whiteman. Marsh got a knock and had to go off. He was replaced by Griffiths. As we had no more defenders, Spurs went to three at the back which against a pressing team led to our demise.

Shashoua saw his drive deflected for a corner before Spurs lost the ball in the middle and De Paula Nascimento was played through the middle to score. Spurs pushed forward looking for a goal with Roles playing Griffiths in for a chance that was saved. Tsaroulla was booked for a late challenge and Harrison drew a save for a corner. Spurs were living dangerously as De Paula Nascimento got through but fired wide. The next time it was Aparecido de Souza who did not miss to make the game safe.

       Muhlenkreis  2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
         (White/Blue)        (All Yellow)
            4-3-3             3-1-4-2

Spurs(3-1-4-2):– Freeman; Lock, Omolabi, Brown; Tsaroulla; Gonzalez-Valasco(Shashoua 27), Reynolds(Roles 27), Harrison(C), Bennetts; Loft(Edwards 27), Griffiths

Scorer:– Loft 10

Booked:– Roles 32(Foul)

Muhlenkreis(4-3-3):– Meier; then 10 from - Kelkit, Joerend, Kelemci(Peters 28), Boga(Koss 34); Freimuth, Kleinert, Langner; Bobe, Rolfes, Sander, Thomae.

Scorers:– Sander 19, 25 (pen)

Booked:– Freimuth 31(Foul on Harrison)

Spurs lined up with Freeman in goal behind a back three of Lock, Omolabi and Brown with Tsaroulla in front of them. Ahead of him were Reynolds and Harrison flanked by Gonzalez-Valasco on the right and Bennetts on the left in support of Loft and Griffiths up front.

Spurs began strongly pushing the Germans back and from a corner Loft saw his header cleared off the line. When a free kick was given for holding on Griffiths, Muhlenkreis did not learn from the earlier chance. Gonzalez-Valasco put the kick onto the head of Loft to score.

Gonzalez-Valasco then hit another free kick over the bar as Spurs continued to press. They were caught out just before the break when Sander won the ball in the middle and he got forward to surprise Freeman with an early strike from over 20 yards that flew inside the near post to draw level.

Gonzalez-Valasco played in Loft for an effort that was saved before Sanders got one on one with Omolabi winning the ball and getting into the area before the defender gave away a penalty. Sander got up to beat Freeman diving to his right.

Spurs found themselves behind to the weakest team in the tournament and McDermott made a triple change. Shashoua replaced Gonzalez-Valasco on the right flank. Roles took over from Reynolds in the middle and Loft was replaced by Edwards. Griffiths saw his header saved by Meier and Freimuth was booked for holding onto Harrison as Spurs had to push forward. Roles was booked for tussling with Boga before Tsaroulla had the last chance when he fired over.

The two defeats leave Spurs in bottom place in the group and we will play Galatasaray tomorrow morning to find out who will finish last which with the injuries picked up could easily be Spurs.

                  P   W  D  L   GF-GA   Pts
Red Bull Brazil   4   3  0  1    9-3     9
FC Copenhagen     4   2  1  1    5-3     7
Werder Bremen     4   2  1  1    6-5     7
Muhlenkreis       4   1  0  3    2-8     3
Tottenham Hotspur 4   0  2  2    3-6     2

Tomorrow (Saturday 27th May) we have the placement games and semi-finals before the final. I have to be disappointed with Spurs who finished the Academy season so strongly. This tournament is for lads a year older but it is not a strong squad, as it was lacking in defenders.

Ray

· Volksbank Cup Day One
· Volksbank Cup Day Three

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