I hate international football.
But as the major international tournaments of the summer come to a close, you have to admit that there’s been some great moments. Watching the shuffling corpse of Harry Kane amble around the pitch in the Euros final wasn’t one of them, but I digress.
As the Euro and Copa America competitions have gone on, there have still been some shining lights involved hailing from our little club in Enfield. In my last round-up, all of the Tottenham Hotspur players involved at the Euros qualified for the knockout rounds, while Spurs’ three Copa America representatives had made strong starts to the group stages.
And the glory continued - for some, at least.
Guglielmo’s Italy and Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s Denmark were the first sides to falter post-group stage, with the Italian goalkeeper once more not seeing the pitch as they lost perhaps surprisingly to Switzerland. Hojbjerg put in a typically workman-like 90 minutes against Germany, but was unable to spur (ahem) his side to the quarter finals in a 2-0 defeat.
Radu Dragusin’s strong tournament came to an end soon after, playing the full match as Romania were swept aside 3-0 by the Netherlands. Micky van de Ven, appearing mostly as a substitute for the Dutch, went furthest in the tournament of the Spurs representatives, as the Netherlands also took down Turkey 2-1, before losing to England 2-1 in the semifinals. Micky was probably unlucky not to play more minutes for the Dutch, with his pace a shining light when he came off the bench and a heroic moment of his own, making a huge goal-saving block late in the quarter final against the Turkish.
It was on the other side of the Atlantic, however, where Spurs’ international players really shined - well, two at least. Cristian Romero was instrumental in securing Argentina a second straight Copa America win, being arguably one of the players of the tournament as the Albiceleste conceded only a solitary goal all competition. He was joined on the winners’ stage by Giovani Lo Celso, who, as we all know loves to absolutely turn it on in white and blue. Unfortunately, this tendency seems limited more to a lighter, more sky-leaning shade. His contributions can’t be ignored, though, as his one-touch pass to assist the cup-winning goal was phenomenal (and hopefully will aid Spurs in securing a tidy fee as he looks to leave the club this summer):
That leaves Rodrigo Bentancur. Playing limited minutes initially for Uruguay, he became more involved as the tournament went on; unfortunately, in the entirely wrong way as Uruguay were knocked out in the semis by Colombia. While the fallout from that match is still to be determined, a positive takeaway is the injury he sustained in the semifinal was not as severe as it perhaps first looked, with Bentancur starting the Bronze final days later. He scored an early goal in that match, striking home a second ball from a set piece, before dispatching his penalty after the match went to spot kicks to help achieve third place for La Celeste.
Our internationals now take a deserved break, before rejoining the club later in preseason as Spurs prepare for the 24/25 edition of the Premier League. COYS!!!
I still hate international football.
Spurs International Appearances:
Euros Knockout Stages
Radu Dragusin (90 mins): Romania 0-3 Netherlands
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (90 mins): Germany 2-0 Denmark
Micky van de Ven (21 mins, sub; 17 mins, sub; unused substitute): Romania 0-3 Netherlands, Netherlands 2-1 Turkey, Netherlands 1-2 England
Guglielmo Vicario (unused substitute): Switzerland 0-2 Italy
Copa America Last Group Stage Match & Knockout Stages