RUTHLESS SPURS EASED to a 6-0 romp over a hopelessly outclassed South China on Saturday in Hong Kong with Jermain Defoe scoring a hat-trick.
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted on Friday that he did not want to have to play the Barclays Asia Trophy friendly because of the state of the pitch at the sell-out 40,000 Hong Kong Stadium after several days of heavy rain.
Key defender Jan Vertonghen faces a race to be fit for the start of the Premier League season in three weeks after injuring his ankle in a 3-1 defeat to Sunderland at the same venue on Wednesday.
But in front of a watching David Moyes, whose Manchester United play there on Monday, Defoe made light work of an awkward surface that had large amounts of sand thrown on it.
Villas-Boas said he was pleased to come through the fixture with no more injuries.
“Everything was perfect today and I am extremely happy by the way we finished (the tournament),” he said.
“Today was much better, not only physically, but also the football we played was really pleasant,” added the Portuguese, who again refused to say if Spurs had received any offers for star man Gareth Bale, reportedly the subject of intense interest from Real Madrid.“We really played well throughout. The full-backs played excellent and kept pushing forward, both (Kyle) Walker and Danny (Rose). It was good to see Defoe coming back to this level of a deadly striker, while also assisting, which shows an unselfish part of his game, which is really good.”
The England striker Defoe, 30, whose future at Spurs has reportedly been in doubt, set up Clint Dempsey on 34 minutes, the American striker side-footing home from close range.
Defoe got on the scoresheet on the stroke of half-time after Walker’s deflected free-kick fell into his path, allowing him the chance to calmly finish inside the box.
Defoe, who also hit the woodwork in the first-half, grabbed his second on 54 minutes. This time there was a large slice of luck in it as South China goalkeeper Zhang Chunhui’s attempted clearance from a Rose pass hit Defoe and the forward rolled the ball into the empty net.
And Defoe completed his hat-trick on 80 minutes when he passed the ball into the back of the net after Gylfi Sigurdsson played him through.Substitute Andros Townsend completed the rout with a curling left-footed free-kick with five minutes left.
Spurs had taken the lead on 12 minutes when a Rose cross from the left spun in off South China defender Sean Tse.
Sunderland play Manchester City in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy later on Saturday.
YouTube credit: Franck Ribery
