Tottenham vs. Manchester United: final score 1-2, Spurs fall in Shanghai

Tottenham Hotspur’s chances to repeat as International Champions Cup champions took a hit in China today in sweltering heat. Manchester United got goals from Anthony Martial and youngster Angel Gomes and ran out to a 2-1 win in Shanghai. Tottenham’s goal came from Lucas Moura in the second half.

Tottenham started with a similar lineup to what we saw against Juventus in Singapore, but with Troy Parrott partnering with Harry Kane up top and Tanguy Ndombele in for Harry Winks. Paulo Gazzaniga started in goal for the ill Hugo Lloris, who returned to London last week. Japhet Tanganga earned his second start in the center of Spurs’ defense, and with Spurs bringing zero left backs on this tour, Anthony Georgiou played another match there.

First Half

1’ — Looks like the midfield diamond again for Spurs.

2’ — Ndombele already becoming a factor as he breaks into the box with some interplay with Georgiou. He’s gonna be soooooo good this season.

5’ — Chance United! Sissoko loses the ball in midfield and Anthony Martial plonks a ball off the right post.

10’ — Chance Spurs! Troy Parrott lays the ball off in the box to a wide open Dele, who shoots straight at De Gea.

12’ — Yellow card for Dele after his second hard foul of the half (though one of them looked like he slipped into the player).

22’ — Goal United. It’s Martial who sneaks one past Gazzaniga after a nice through-ball from Peirera into the box. 1-0 to the bad guys. Some suspect defending there by Tanganga.

25’ — Sissoko is a clod. Goes straight through James on a corner, and somehow evades getting a yellow card. He’s been... uh, not great.

40’ — Peirera goes through the ankles of Kane, and earns a yellow. Bad tackle — should be red.

42’ — Yellow on Tanganga for fouling Greenwood, he earns a yellow too. This is a friendly?

HALFTIME — Martial’s strike the difference in the first half, but United have been the better side thus far. Spurs’ young defense somewhat suspect, and there’s been an edge to the match the entire time. Work to do if Spurs will repeat as ICC Champions.

Second Half

Second half subs: Lucas Moura, Oliver Skipp, Juan Foyth, Toby Alderweireld, Erik Lamela, Son Heung-Min all on for Spurs. United substitute all 11 players from the first half.

45’ — JUAN FOYTH RIGHT BACK ALERT

51’ — Close from Spurs — Romero was waaaaay off his line, and Sonny tried to chip him from distance but his shot goes just over.

54’ — Sonny almost literally breaks Bailly’s ankles cutting inside on a counter attack. Flagged (very late) for offside, but Bailly tweaks a knee or something and is stretchered off.

61’ — Shot United — Fred has a pop from outside the box, but Gazzaniga goes low to save.

62’ — Jack Roles, Christian Eriksen, Harvey White all on for Spurs; Sissoko, Dele, Georgiou all off. It’s Eriksen’s first preseason match action. Please sign a new deal.

65’ — GOAL TOTTENHAM! What a ridiculous goal. Son heads the ball to Lucas who takes two touches in the box and pokes a little dribbler past Romero, who dove the wrong way. It’s 1-1!

70’ — Another sub as George Marsh comes on for Japhet Tanganga. Foyth back to CB.

80’ — Goal United. It’s Gomes, the youngster for United, who gets behind Spurs’ back line and finishes past Gazinga to put United back in the lead. He just blew by Oliver Skipp, who, in his defense, is not a defender. Gazzaniga also rooted. Real bad. It’s 2-1.

84’ — Nearly another for United. Rashford through on goal and scores, but the flag is up and it’s called back.

91’ — Sonny gets a half step on his defender and launches a curling effort on goal, but this being preseason it goes high and wide. If he’s on form that’s on target.

93’ — CLOSE! Lucas Moura skies in the box and gets a header on goal, but it drifts just wide of the post.

FULL TIME — that’s it. A late goal from Gomes is the difference as United take the match in Shanghai. Final score is 2-1.

Match reactions:

• It’s preseason, it was hot, a lot of children played, no Spurs players got injured, whatever.
• That pitch looked AWFUL.
• This match had a definite edge to it, and you can tell that these two teams really don’t like each other. So many hard fouls, including a couple (hello Pereira) that were red-card worthy. I know it’s a cash grab but I don’t like playing league opponents in preseason.
• Troy Parrott looks extremely legit. He looked surprisingly comfortably against actual adult footballers for the second straight match. Good instincts, instinctively knows how to draw defenders away. Had Dele been sharper, he would’ve gotten an assist.
• Otherwise, I wasn’t really impressed with any of the youth today. Harvey White was passable, but Tanganga looked outmatched in defense and none of Marsh, Skipp, Roles, etc. did a whole lot to turn any heads.
• Moussa Sissoko was... not great paired with his new bestie Ndombele. Several stupid fouls, a lot of bad passing, and some giveaways. Tanguy obviously hasn’t figured out yet that Moussa isn’t the guy you want to pass the ball to in midfield.
• Juan Foyth had a short stint at right back (finally!) and looked the part, though it’s difficult to draw a whole lot of conclusions from about 15 minutes of game time. He didn’t convince me that he’s bad at the position, though.
• Sonny looked so dangerous on the break. I’m glad he got some time off this summer, because he looks like he’s ready to hit the ground running this season.
• Spurs’ next match is against Real Madrid in the Audi Cup on July 30 before returning home and hosting Inter in the final match of the ICC on August 4.