Spurs vs Sunderland Match Review Barclays Asia Trophy

Spurs go home early from a very wet Hong Kong after losing 3-1 to Sunderland this afternoon. The semi-final was scheduled for an 11 am start however due to very heavy rain the game was delayed by thirty minutes and the halves were made five minutes shorter. The weather proved a real problem for both sides as many players were falling over, the ball was holdding up in the rain and ultimately many mistakes were made.

The Spurs lineup was Gomes, Walker, Caulker, Dawson, Rose, Huddlestone, Lennon, Parker, Dempsey, Sigurdsson and Adebayor. Meanwhile Sunderland lined up with Mannone, Gardner, Colback, O'Shea, Brown, Cabral, Larsson, Johnson, Giaccherini, Sessegnon and Altidore. The first 25 minutes were very even with Dawson making some excellent defensive challenges but neither team really troubled either goalkeeper. However in the 28th minute Spurs broke the deadlock with a Gylfi Sigurdsson shot that was deflected in. But Spurs' lead didn't last long and with Huddlestone making a mistake in the wet Sunderland's new signing Cabral went through one on one and slotted home the equaliser. From the start of the second half it all went downhill for Spurs when in the 48th minute Jan Verthongen had to be stretchered of with what looked like a serious injury. Despite Spurs being the better side Sunderland went 2-1 up when poor defending gave Wes Brown a free header from a corner. Spurs then looked like they had dropped their heads with Friedel pulling of some amazing saves to keep us in the game but in the last minute David Moberg Karlsson went through one on one from a counter attack to slot home Sunderland's third which ended the contest.

Sunderland looked much sharper than Spurs and although many players were missing and the conditions were bad I thought Spurs looked very poor and I am just happy that there is still plenty of time to improve before the new season starts. Despite this some players impressed like Dawson who played excellently and Friedel who pulled of some amazing saves to keep us in the game. Hopefully Verthongen's injury is nothing to serious and now Spurs can return to North London for some more well needed pre season training.