It's a blog (in English mostly) all about football...in Japan with the J-League and Cerezo Osaka, in the English Premier League with Spurs and anywhere else the football takes us.
Spurs fans were in good voice but much like the last game I went to the away fans were significantly more vociferous. Van Der Vaart scored the first and set up the second from a corner. Swansea did well at the lane and danger man Gylfi Sigurdsson was...dangerous and scored for the visitors as well as forcing an exceptional save from Brad Friedel. Gareth Bale had another sublime game and when Aaron Lennon returned from injury in the second half and we immediately looked a lot more balanced so things are looking up for our last few games. Lennon crossed superbly for Adebayor's second. My hope for this year is that Spurs can finish above Arsenal and Cerezo above Gamba and a cup win would be nice too! Back in Japan Cerezo picked up three points against Frontale thanks to a Kim Bo-Kyung goal in Kawasaki. We lost our first home game in Kincho Stadium 1-2 as Vegalta Sendai look like having consecutive flying starts in J1, Bando scoring our only goal. Gamba sacked their manager after a poor start to the season. Next up for Spurs is a trip to Sunderland while Cerezo travel to Omiya Ardija.
The High Road but it could be spring in Japan!
The White Hart Lane cockerel
Swansea fans celebrate Sigurdsson's goal
Adebayor scores his first from a Van Der Vaart corner
Cerezo did OK for spells away in Korea (in a fairly empty Japan/Korea world cup stadium) against Jeonbuk but we wasted our best chances, didn't do too well defensively and had some injury problems. It was an exciting game we lost 1-0. We have a decent enough chance of making it through to the next stage though. Jin-Hyeon was good, Inui was...Inui, had a great chance but fluffed it horribly, he can do so much better and has to this season. Martinez was struck down with an illness (Lennon-like for Spurs in Europe) and only made it to the bench and on for a few minutes in the second half. Spurs of course are well and truly out of the Champions League and it's going to be a close call whether or not we make it again next season, thanks for the adventure this season! Bale won player of the season without actually being the best player for Spurs this year. A fantastic North London derby last night/this morning (depending on where you live) even though the result didn't really help either team football was the winner, match of the seaon so far? Arsene Wenger acting like a kid after losing out on three points and none of our strikers scoring, Van der Vaart picking up the slack, business as usual.
The current squad includes Jermain Defoe, Michael Dawson and Kyle Walker from Spurs, no room for the recently playing decently Lennon though which is odd. Fair play to Kyle Walker for his call up at right back, a position Harry has tried three players so far in the league for us... Walker has also scored more Premier League goals (1) than Defoe (0) as of today, here is his effort against Fulham.
One of our right backs...playing for Villa
Good luck to him if he gets his first cap against Denmark later today. Lampard has been named captain as the other conteders are out. It might not be the pick the pick of the friendly internationals, France vs Brazil could be interesting, but there's enough to keep Spurs and England fans interested. Although if you live in Japan watching it live is possible but needs some stamina and you should be willing to bend the law a little. Redknapp has withdrawn Peter Crouch and Van Der Vaart (Holland) due to injuries or he's playing things safe.
