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Spurs progress to final- but does anyone care?

Roughly, just 11.8 miles separate White Hart Lane, the home of Tottenham Hotspur, and Upton Park, the home of West Ham United. Yet, in the name of pre-season, some bright spark felt it a good idea to stage a friendly match between the two teams, across the other side of the world. Any die-hard Tottenham fans would have been let down in my opinion (if I’d travelled all that way I’d expect a 16-5 victory with Carlo Cudicini scoring with a scorpion kick), but those supporters with slightly more realistic aspirations would have been content with a Spurs performance that glistened with promise.

On second thoughts, it looks like that scorpion kick is giving Carlo some problems

Both sides were in China for the Barclays Asia Trophy, a friendly tournament which also includes Hull and Beijing Guoan. The London sides fielded strong teams and the game had a nice, competitive feel to it. However, Tottenham always looked the better side, being both fitter and quicker than their city rivals. Modric was unlucky with an early chance, firing just wide, and the Spurs attack of Keane and Pavlyuchenko looked lively.

Injuries are the worst thing a club can face during pre-season, and West Ham will be stunned by Luis Boa Morte misfortune; the midfielder fell to the ground in the eleventh minute after taking a tumble with Spurs full back Benoit Assou-Ekotto. He was immediately stretched off, and it was later revealed the Portuguese man had ruptured his knee ligaments.

Boa Morte could be out until Christmas.

At half time Harry Redknapp partnered Robbie Keane with Jermain Defoe. The former Hammer went close to making an immediate impression, but his volley never posed a threat to Robert Green. Defoe had another chance not long after, but fired over after breaking through the West Ham defence.

When the winning goal eventually came it was fitting it was scored by Defoe after he had wasted most of Tottenham’s best chances. Strangely however, it was probably one of Defoe’s poorest shots. He found himself one-on-one with Robert Green, only to shoot straight at the stopper. Fortunately for Tottenham though, Green let the shot squirm through his body, gifting Tottenham a place in the final.

Jermain Defoe celebrates Tottenham's winner against his former club as Julien Faubert berates goalkeeper Robert Green's howler
The new spurs shirt: £30. Tickets to China: £350. Scoring against your old team in a worthless friendly that nobody really cares about: priceless.

So as Tottenham progress to play Hull in the conclusion of the Asia cup, West Ham will no doubt shrug off their momentary disappointment. Boa Morte’s injury is a far bigger setback for Zola, whilst Spurs will hope to avoid any similar injuries in their last few pre-season games.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd0u6VvrsDg]

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