Abbonanzieri

Schiavi
Morel-Rodriguez
Calvo
Cagna (Cardozo 64)

Delgado
Palacio (Guillermo 64)
Insua (Schelotto 78)
Bilos

Diaz
Gago

Unused subs: 
Unknown

Cerny

Marney
King (c) (Huddlestone 75)
Dawson (Gardner 62) 
Bunjevcevic

Tainio
Carrick
Mendes

Reid (El-Hamdaoui 77)

Defoe (Routledge 64)
Mido (Keane 80)

Unused subs: 
Fulop
Burch
Edman
Davenport
Lennon
Kanoute

Delgardo 2
Bilos 70

Tottenham Hotspur

Defoe 28
Mido 31

From the first minute, it looked like Spurs might be on the end of a right hammering, with Boca finding an easy path through the middle of the Tottenham defence.  When Gago broke in the first few seconds, he picked up a pass off a colleague and hit an early shot that flew well wide.  The only recompense for this miss was the fact that it put off the inevitable for a minute or so.  Within two minutes, Spurs were a goal behind.  An old fashioned long ball down the middle was seized on by Delgardo on the left side of our defence and as Cerny came out to close him down, the Boca striker slipped a low shot past him to make it 0-1.

The Tottenham defence had been caught napping and appealing for offside.  It didn't get a lot better straight away, as they were left standing by another direct ball through the heart fo the defence, where a pass out to the right put Gago in for a shot that he tried to curl around Cerny, but the Czech keeper leapt to catch the shot.  

Play settled down a bit and it was on the quarter hour that Spurs had their first threat on goal, with Carrick hitting a looping shot wide from a poor clearance, but another Boca attack left Spurs trailing as Palacio ran through to strike a low shot that Cerny once more was called into action to gather.

Tottenham then started to get it together, with Mendes beginning to exert an influence, while Tainio found his feet and began spraying passes around.  He looked a decent enough player with a will to win the ball and when he had got it, play a bit, with passes out side and some neat little touches on the ball.  He also seemed keen to get into the box, which we need from our midfield.  It was the Finn's interception that led to the goal.  Defoe got the ball, beat one man, took the ball of another as he dallied on it, then found a yard of space in the box before crashing home his shot across Abbonanzeri.  It was a typical Defoe goal in a way.  A chance bit of possession and a fine striker's finish.

That was 28 minutes in and three minutes later, it was 2-1 to Tottenham.  Tainio got the ball and fed Mendes, who was easing through the midfield and slid a pass into centre field to Defoe.  Looking up, Jermain poked a short pass into the path of partner Mido, who took one touch out of his feet and struck a low shot right to left across the keeper as he set himself.  It was another good forward's goal, taking the shot early after pushing it just out of the closing defender's reach.

The defensive pairing of King and Dawson were settling too, with them both making important blocks as Boca players closed in on goal.  King almost put one in for Boca, with his headed interception dropping on top of the net with Cerny stranded.  From the corner resulted and when it was played in, Cagna got to it at the near post with a back-heel that flew goalwards, but luckily, at a good height for Cerny to take cleanly.  At times it was route one stuff from the Argentinian side.  The keeper booted the ball upfield and Schiavi got to the ball first and with the goal in sight pulled his shot wide of the mark.

The ref was giving some generous decisions and a free-kick was played in to the near post, with a Spurs body getting in the way.  As it flew up, Cagna was underneath it to hit a fierce volley that Cerny had a clear sight of and pushed over the bar.

The first half reflected the various stages the teams were at in their seasons.  Boca at the end o their season and arriving only a couple of days before the game, while Spurs are building up to the start of the season and had acclimatised a bit better.

Boca came out quicker at the start of the second half, with Cerny drawn into a diving save to tip around a 20 yard shot from Delgardo.  Then, the Spurs keeper found himself picking the ball out of the net when Cagna hit a free-kick from left of the penalty area past him, but it was indirect and nobody had touched it, so play was restarted with a goal-kick.

It was interesting seeing Defoe up against some strapping South American defenders, but he gave as good as he got.  In fact, he out-muscled the defender to get ahead of him and lobbed the ball goalwards, but not high enough for the keeper to be caught out.  Michael Dawson spilled blood for the team, when he got an elbow in the face and suffered a broken nose, playing on for ten minutes before having to leave the field.  Spurs were breaking from some good passes from midfield and when Carrick released Andy Reid on the left wing, the Irishman cut inside and struck a cross-shot that Abbonanzieri pushed out with no Tottenham shirts available to seize on it. 

Both sides made changes, with Routledge and Gardner coming on for Tottenham and it was Routledge who provided a low cross into the box which Mido was just a yard away from.  Then Carrick put a nice ball over the defence for Tainio to run onto, but the Boca keeper beat him to it.  When the Argentinian side broke away with 70 minutes played, substitute Bilos took the ball into the Spurs area and unchallenged hit a low drive into the bottom corner of the net for the equaliser.  It was disappointing, but Tottenham had been doing their old trick of backing away as players pressed towards the Spurs goal and the shots had all been off target or easy for Cerny until then.

More substitutes disrupted the flow of the game and the game ran out of steam in the steamy atmosphere, with Boca happy for the draw and Spurs having to make do with the one point.

As a pre-season exercise, it might have come a little too soon in Tottenham's preparation, but I think they played well in patches, with their concentration lapsing in other parts.  With two more games to play, it will be a nice exercise in seeing how their play improves over the remaining games of the tournament.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : - TEEMU TAINIO

Saw the Bocas game in its entirety on British Eurosport and it was intriguing, if not particularly entertaining.
I thought that the squad looked tired, unfit and unsharp but still showed enough quality to suggest that this could be a more successful pre-season than last year.

I'll give brief summary on each player.

Cerny looked quite good and far more reliable than Keller ever was. Handling and catching was good and he made some good flying saves. Maybe could've done better with the Boca goals.
Marney tried hard but didn't look happy at right-back and was caught out many times.
King looked unfit and lacked sharpness as this was his first match for a while. Looked slow in trying to stop the second Bocas goal but had little help near him.
Dawson was caught out many times but made some good blocks before his substitution.
Bunjy was Bunjy. 'Nuff said.
Mendes lacked sharpness and fitness, is understandable since he's just come back from the toe injury. He worked hard though.
Carrick was so quiet it took me 40 minutes  to realise he was on the pitch. Unfit.
Reid was also quiet and I'm not sure how long he was out there but Tainio did enough to impress me with his industry and neat touches. However, he did seem to get knocked off the ball a bit too easily. How
would he cope in the Premiership?
Mido was terrific and it's clear that he has worked hard in the close season to improve his fitness. Took his goal well.
Defoe was also impressive, if a little bit wasteful, and buried his goal nicely.
Jermain could've won it for us as well but tried cheeky lobs instead. He looked fit and sharp and was upset to be taken off.
As for the subs, Keano was quiet, Gardner did little to show that he deserves to oust Dawson or Naybet from Ledley's side.
Huddlestone was quiet and didn't see much of the ball, while Routledge was the most disappointing of the lot. His teammates made sure he saw a lot of the ball but he often did nothing with it and was tackled easily. Also his crossing was poor and he fell on his face when put through by Keano. Maybe he too is unfit but I still expected more from what is now our chief playmaker. Oh well...he's got Monday to make up for it against Sundowners.
As for the team, while they looked shaky defensively, Cerny showed that he will do good in goal should Robinson not recover.
The midfield looked good at times, with Tainio pulling the strings, and there was moments of great passing although it didn't last. In attack, Mido and Defoe seem the best partnership out of the four strikers. They linked well and both took their best chance like true predators.

Yes, Wyart, things are interesting and I look forward to the Lyon game later next week.

Sean Jackson