Tottenham at NI Milk Cup 2012 Preview
By Logan Holmes
The Northern Ireland Milk Cup starts today, 21st July, and Tottenham’s first match is at Shamrock Park, Portadown against Co. Armagh. This is a change to the usual format where all matches are played at grounds around the north Antrim coast. To mark the 30th anniversary of the tournament, the six county sides will play their first match at a home venue so the Co. Armagh youth team can expect great vocal support from the home fans.
Premier Section:
Spurs are playing in the Premier Section for players born on or after 1st January, 1995.
The twenty teams taking part are:
The six local County teams: Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Antrim, Tyrone and Londonderry.
Otago (New Zealand), South Coast Strikers (USA), Revo Express (Norway), Pachuca (Mexico), Desportivo Brazil, Ichfuna (Japan), CSKA Moscow, Bolton Wanderers, Benfica (Portugal), Etoile Lusitana (Senegal), Cherry Orchard (Republic of Ireland), Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs’ Premier Section Fixtures:
Saturday, 21st July, 2012: v County Armagh (venue: Shamrock Park, Portadown KO: 5pm)
Monday, 23rd July, 2012: v South Coast Strikers (USA) (Scroggy Road, Limavady KO: 7pm)
Tuesday, 24th July, 2012: v Otago (NZ) (Coleraine Showgrounds KO 7pm)
Tottenham Squad:
1 |
Harry Voss (G/k)
2
Kodi Lyons-Foster (D)
3
Kane Vincent-Young (D)
4
Harry Winks (M)
5
Connor Ogilvie (D)
6
Joe Pritchard
7
Emmanuel Sonupe (F)
8
Shayon Harrison
9
Jon Magbadelo
10
Amon Walton-Owens
11
Nathan Oduwa (F)
12
William Miller
13
Liam Priestley (G/k)
14
Luke Amos (M)
15
Anton Walkes
16
Anthony Georgiou (M)
17
Cy Goddard
18
Channing Campbell-Young
Five of the squad were at last year’s tournament – Kodi Lyons-Foster, Connor Ogilvie, Emmanuel Sonupe, Nathan Oduwa and goalkeeper, Liam Priestley.
Spurs Opponents:
County Armagh
Spurs have played a local County team in their last two Milk Cup tournaments. The local sides usually give a good account of themselves. In 2010, they defeated Londonderry by four goals to nil in their opening match and had a more difficult game than the score suggests. Last year it was Fermanagh who gave them a difficult match. Spurs were a goal down at half-time and only two goals from Kenneth McEvoy in the last ten minutes earned Spurs the points.
With the support of the home crowd Co. Armagh could make it difficult for the young Tottenham team. In 1997 when Spurs and Armagh previously met in the competition it ended scoreless. Last year the County team played Bolton Wanderers and lost by only two goals.
South Coast Strikers (USA)
Spurs played South Coast Strikers from California twice last year. They met in the third match of the tournament and the 1-2 defeat suffered by Spurs denied them the opportunity to play in the play-offs for 1st – 4th. They were a strong, well organised team and took an early lead last year. Spurs fought back to draw level but after much pressure from Spurs, SCS scored late on the win the match.
The teams then met in the play-off for 5th and 6th place with Spurs winning a penalty shoot-out after a 1 – 1 draw.
The South Coast Strikers have teams in both the Junior and Premier sections. They arrived in Northern Ireland on Wednesday to the acclimatise to the cool Northern Ireland summer weather. They have been training at the University of Ulster grounds and both teams played a match in Belfast against Crusaders at Seaview.
From the SCS website:
The Premier game was much more evenly, and hotly, contested. Several of the Crusaders are bound for the professional club next year. The game was played at a fast pace indeed, both sides constantly applying pressure on both ends of the field. The Crusaders are a very physical team; they are aggressive and quick and strong to the ball. The Crusaders were well organized and gave our lads a very strong challenge.
As in the Juniors game, our passing was very strong and accurate, with crosses leading to numerous shots on goal. In the first half, Strikers scored the only goal of the match when a creative scoop pass from Abu set up Christian Thierjung to beat the Crusaders keeper with an outstanding volley shot. The Strikers had the majority of shots and possession in the first half, but the Crusaders substantially closed the gap in the second half. At the end of the day, the single first-half score was the only goal, and the Strikers walked away with a win in a hard-fought contest.
This will be a difficult match – Strikers are strong and well organised, looking to play quick flowing football and both matches last year were very close so the same can be expected this year.
Otago (NZ)
Spurs played Otaga in the opening match of last year’s competition and won 4 – 0. Dominic Ball who has Northern Ireland family connections, scored twice for Spurs who made an impressive start to the competition.
Otago are regular visitors to the Milk Cup and so will have prepared well and hoping to improve on last year’s result.
Following the opening three matches the places determine the play-off spots (1st – 4th/5th – 8th etc)
Keep checking for match reports throughout the NI Milk Cup tournament on HotspurHQ.
Spurs past record in the Milk Cup – read more: here