Sat 28 May 2022, 22:40
Tottenham HotspurOur Academy side takes on Borussia Monchengladbach in our final match at the Terborg Tournament in Holland on Sunday morning, determined to finish the campaign in winning fashion after a disappointing second day of action on Saturday.
Having begun the Under-19 competition with an encouraging 1-1 draw against the highly-rated KRC Genk on Friday evening, we were unable to build on that and suffered back-to-back losses to Fluminense and De Graafschap during the following 24 hours, leaving us with just a solitary point from our three group games.
We’ll now be playing for pride against German side Monchengladbach on day three (kick-off 10am local time) before heading back to the UK for the summer break.
Playing 50-minute matches – 25 minutes each way – we competed well against Genk in our opening game on Friday and deservedly took the lead just after half-time when Jamie Donley crossed from the left flank for Jaden Williams to convert from close range. Goalkeeper Adam Hayton made a couple of good saves at the other end, but he couldn’t prevent the Belgian side from grabbing a 36th-minute equaliser, although we might have won it in the closing moments when Donley’s late effort hit the crossbar.
Saturday morning saw us presented with an early chance to take the lead against Fluminense after we were awarded a penalty, but Romaine Mundle’s effort was saved. Aaron Maguire kept the Brazilian side at bay with two impressive stops, but a 30th-minute goal gave our opponents a 1-0 win.
And our fortunes didn’t improve in our second game of the day as we found ourselves 2-0 down inside 12 minutes to De Graafschap. George Abbott made a couple of important blocks to prevent the Dutch outfit from increasing their lead, while Yago Santiago headed over the bar in the second half as we sought a route back into the contest, but there was no further change to the scoreline as our opponents remained unbeaten to top the group and advance to the semi-finals.
