Tottenham Players Finish International Duties for October
By Aaron Coe
Wednesday across the globe Tottenham Hotspur players were finishing up their final work for their respective national teams before coming back to N17.
Wednesday evening marked the end of the October international break in men’s football and with it the final appearances for country – this month – for several Tottenham Hotspur players. Across some seven games as England hosted Denmark, Croatia hosted France, Iceland hosted Belgium, Bulgaria hosted Wales, Croatia hosted France, Finland hosted the Republic of Ireland, and finally Chile hosted Columbia at least one Spurs player was in action and went the full 90 in every match.
Tottenham Players in Action Again
Harry Kane squared off against new teammate Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, with Kane going the full 90 and Højbjerg going most of it, coming off in the 88th minute as Denmark worked to run down the clock. Given England played an hour with only 10-men after Harry Maguire was sent off for two yellow cards it was a more difficult night for Kane and company.
Of note, Højbjerg did pick up a yellow for a hard foul on Harry Kane, which looked like it would have been harder had Højbjerg not realized it was Kane and backed out a bit at the last moment. Afterwards both players laughed and exchanged a handshake, so no harm, but yes, a foul. Harry Kane certainly got the raw end of the deal physically and on the scoreboard as Denmark won 0-1 on a Christian Eriksen penalty kick, following a Kyle Walker penalty. Neither Eric Dier nor Harry Winks were in the England side.
Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris again skippered his France team to victory, making three save in the 1-2 win over Croatia. Toby Alderweireld again started and played a full 90-minutes for Belgium in their 1-2 win over Iceland. From the highlights I saw it looked like Belgium’s first goal came from a classic Toby longball to Lukaku in the box who beat two players for his first of two goals.
Matt Doherty managed a couple of shots, a couple shot assists, and threw in a couple of fouls in an all action game for the Republic of Ireland, who fell 1-0 at Finland. Elsewhere both Ben Davies and Davinson Sanchez saw yellow cards in their respective matches. Davies and Wales beat Bulgaria 0-1, whereas Sanchez and Columbia used an injury time goal from Radamel Falcao to draw Chile 2-2 in World Cup Qualifying.
The most positive thing for Tottenham is that all the players, like those who finished their duties on Tuesday, were returning to London and the care found at Hotspur Way. Now the players need to regroup and recuperate for another three weeks of a lot of football, before they all go their separate ways again and we do this dance we call the International “Break” all over.