Courtesy of:- Ray Lo, and the Spurs List.
Spurs sent a squad to the U-19 Stemwede Tournament in Germany to play for the Volksbank Cup. Under Wayne Burnett the players were:-
1. Brandon Austin
2. Maxwell Statham
3. Tariq Hinds
4. George Marsh
5. Japhet Tanganga
6. Oliver Skipp
7. Shilow Tracey
8. Dylan Duncan
9. Kazaiah Sterling
10. Dilan Markanday
11. Reo Griffiths
12. Jack Roles
13. Charlie Freeman
14. Samuel Shashoua
15. Armando Shashoua
16. Jeremie Mukandi
17. Timothy Eyoma
18. Jonathan Dinzeyi
Spurs were drawn in Innology group with Locomotiv Moscow, SV Rodinghausen, VfB Stuttgart and Werder Bremen. The opening day's matches were played at Bad Holzhausen. The other group is made up of Fulham, Glasgow Rangers, Red Bull Brazil, Hamburg SV and Muhlenkreis-Team and played at Lavelsloh where Spurs played last year. Matches are only 20 minutes for each half and four subs can be used by each team.
After finishing the first day on the same number of points as Werder Bremen it was always likely that the last group game would be the decider. Spurs opening game of the day was against VfB Stuttgart whilst Bremen's game was against Rodinghausen. In that game the Locomotiv players had an interest because if Bremen lost they would likely finish second. They cheered when the Rodinghausen keeper saved a penalty and then when they went ahead. They were not cheering at the end as Bremen won 2-1. The second day of the tournament was held at Wedhem which has a better pitch than at Bad Holzhausen. There the pitch had holes in it as well as a patch of dead grass.
Against Stuttgart Spurs lined up with Austin in goal behind Eyoma and Tanganga with Mukendi at right back and Hinds on the left. Marsh anchored the midfield trio with Roles and Armando Shashoua alongside him. Ahead of them Sterling led the line with Tracey on his right and Samuel Shashoua on the left - he was not only ahead of his brother but they were starting together for the first time.
Spurs kicked off attacking the West end and took an early lead when Sterling was fouled just outside the area. Sam Shashoua hit the free kick around the right of the wall into the left side of the goal.
Spurs' passing game was good with Sam Shashoua making telling runs down the left and he set up the second goal, passing inside for Sterling to draw a save from the keeper and Sam firing in the rebound.
Stuttgart came close to scoring when Hottmann saw his effort blocked and the rebound was fired wide by Morais. Roles played Sterling in but the goalkeeper Volkkert was out quickly to save. Austin saved a free kick by Batzner early in the second half before Sam Shashoua was played in for his hat-trick but lifted the ball over the advancing keeper hitting the crossbar.
It was 3-0 a minute later as Tracey got down the right and pulled the ball back for Roles to curl into the far corner. With the game safe Spurs began making changes with the first being Dinzeyi replacing Mukendi at right back. After Hellmann headed over a cross Duncan replaced Tanganga with Marsh dropping into the back four.
Markanday replaced Sam Shashoua going to the right wing with Tracey moving to the left. The last change was Griffiths on for the hard-working Sterling. At the end Spurs had increased their goal advantage over Bremen to three.
Team(4-3-3):- Freeman; Mukendi(Dinzeyi 29), Eyoma, Tanganga(C)(Duncan 32), Hinds; Roles, Marsh, A. Shashoua;
Tracey, Sterling(Griffiths 37), S. Shashoua(Markanday 32)
Scorers:- S. Shashoua 6, 12, Roles 28
In the last group game against Werder Bremen Spurs wore their dark blue away kit and the coaching staff used the game to experiment with the players knowing that they were in the semi-finals already, it was just which team they would face. I watched them talking over the team for a good few minutes and they did come up with some surprises.
In goal was Austin behind Sterling and Marsh - that's right striker Sterling at the back! - Dinzeyi who you would expect to be in the centre was at right back and Markanday at left back. Skipp anchored the midfield with Duncan ahead of him on his right and Armando Shashoua on his left. They were flanked by Mukendi on the right and Samuel Shashoua on the left in support of Griffiths up front.
Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the East end taking a little time to settle into the new formation. Austin saved from Hoppe after a mistake by Markanday, before Sam Shashoua played in Duncan for an effort that was blocked. Skipp drove just wide before Griffiths fired wide after being played in by Sam Shashoua.
Mukendi got down the right laying the ball off to Sam Shashoua who cut inside to fire in for his third goal of the tournament with the last kick of the half.
Mbom drew a save from Austin early in the second half before Spurs began to make changes. Tanganga replaced Marsh at the back and then Hinds replaced Sam Shashoua going to left back to allow Markanday to move forward. Sterling was then replaced by Eyoma at the back having done a good job. The last change saw Roles replace Skipp in midfield three.
Spurs were happy to maintain possession and run the clock down with only Rieckmann having a shot that flew wide before the final whistle that saw Spurs finish top of their group.
Team(4-1-4-1):- Austin; Dinzeyi, Sterling(Eyoma30), Marsh(Tanganga 23), Markanday; Skipp(Role 36); Mukendi,
Duncan, A. Shashoua, S. Shashoua(Hinds 28); Griffiths
Scorer:- S. Shashoua 20
P W D L F-A Pts
Tottenham Hotspur 4 3 1 0 7-1 10
Werder Bremen 4 2 1 1 4-2 7
Locomotiv Moscow 4 1 3 0 5-2 6
VfB Stuttgart 4 1 1 2 3-6 4
SV Rodinghausen 4 0 0 4 1-9 0
Spurs will play Red Bull Brazil tomorrow in the first semi-final while Werder Bremen will play Fulham in the second.
