Brazil, Mexico Win To Keep Sandro, Gio Dos Santos Away From Spurs For Another Week

Tottenham Hotspur are not going to see Sandro or Giovani dos Santos for another week after Brazil and Mexico each won to advance to the Olympic semifinals. The two have been absent from the club for all of preseason as they compete at the Olympics and with wins in the quarterfinals, they have guaranteed themselves at least two more matches (a semifinal and medal match).

Now, Sandro and dos Santos cannot join the club until August 10. At the very best, the two will get one week of training with Spurs before the team takes on Newcastle in their season opener, which would normally be a blow, but is made that much worse by the fact that the team has a new manager in Andre Villas-Boas that neither has even met yet.

While the team could deal without dos Santos, they really need to get Sandro back. The Luka Modric saga has no end in sight and Scott Parker is going to be out for six weeks after Achilles surgery, leaving Spurs shorthanded in the midfield. If Sandro cannot play against Newcastle because he is tired, gets injured or does not pick up on Villas-Boas' system in the one week he will have to do it then Tom Huddlestone or Jermaine Jenas will have to start st St. James' Park. That's a player who hasn't played a competitive match in a year or a player that is Jermaine Jenas.

The Olympic quarterfinals were not all bad for Tottenham, though. A quarterfinal loss by Great Britain means that Steven Caulker and Danny Rose will rejoin Spurs immediately and will get two weeks with the team before the opener. Neither one figures to be vital in the first match or two, but being young players and playing for a new manager, any more time they get with the team in training to learn and establish themselves is a good thing.