Tottenham Quintet Starts in England’s 2-1 Win Over Turkey
Five Tottenham Hotspur players all got starts in England’s 2-1 win over Turkey while going the full 90 minutes. Harry Kane was one of the goalscorers in this international friendly.
As an international friendly, the overall score doesn’t necessarily matter so long as the players perform well. Or at least, that’s how it should go. And with England taking on Turkey in one of three tune-up matches before they embark on the European Championship next month, they’re off to a great start.
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England would get on the board very quickly in the third minute when Dele Alli would slip a pass through his defender’s legs to Harry Kane, who was well offsides.
The referee obviously missed this call, but give credit to Kane for slotting the ball into the back of the net. While continuing his goal scoring form after winning the Golden Boot award on May 15 with 25 league goals scored.
The 22-year-old Tottenham striker almost had a brace when Jamie Vardy was brought down in the box by Mehmat Topal in the second half. And with a chance to extend their lead after giving up the equalizer in the 13th minute, Kane’s attempt would bounce off of the left post and go out for a goal kick.
Wayne Rooney, England’s penalty kick taker wasn’t selected to be in Roy Hodgson’s 18-man matchday squad, so it fell onto Harry Kane. It’s not that his shot was bad, it was well hit. It just happened to go a bit too far wide.
Still, with the score 1-1 at the time, England would eventually seal the win with a Jamie Vardy goal in the 83rd minute, thus seeing the Premier League’s top two goalscorers both grab a goal in this game.
With Harry Kane scoring a goal — offsides not withstanding — the Tottenham striker, along with Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose all managed to play the entire 90 minutes.
For Spurs, it’s another accomplishment on the international stage to see five of their players represent England. There are other Tottenham players who will gets starts for their respective national teams, like Hugo Lloris for France and Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen for Belgium, but it’s more impressive for England.
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Because as is, Tottenham’s quintet are a part of Mauricio Pochettino and Roy Hodgson’s future since they’re under the age of 25. With Kyle Walker and Danny Rose being the “senior players” among the five England internationals representing Spurs.
Both managers’ plans are to look towards the future and a big part of that is a youth movement.
Pochettino, since he arrived at White Hart Lane, has favored younger players over older ones because they fit his philosophy better. And looking at Tottenham’s 2015-16 Premier League season, where they fielded the youngest squad based on average age, it seems that that won’t change anytime soon.
Therefore, it’s great for both sides to work together.
Mauricio Pochettino will continue to give plenty of minutes to Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. And in turn, they get rewarded by representing England and gaining more experience by playing international football against some of the best teams around Europe.
It’s a win-win for Spurs and England, surely.
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Moving on, up next for England is Austrailia on May 27. With five days to go until the next international friendly, there’s a chance that England boss, Roy Hodgson, could opt for some changes in his starting XI to see other players on his bench take that next step forward ahead of the Euros.
If that’s the case, then it could be expected that only Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier could be the only three players making another start this Friday. Or that none of Tottenham’s players start at all.
Either way, Spurs should feel proud to see their players well represented in international matches whether it’s in a friendly or a major tournament.