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Chicago Fire
Pre-season Friendlies
Jul 27, 2014 at 1am UK
 
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0-2

FT(HT: 0-1)
Kane (5'), Lennon (84')

Live Commentary: Chicago Fire 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur - as it happened

Read Sports Mole's live commentary of Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season friendly win over Chicago Fire.
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Tottenham Hotspur ended their tour of North America with a 2-0 win against Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

Harry Kane scored early on for Spurs after Lewis Holtby made the most of some calamitous defending, before Aaron Lennon made it 2-0 in the second half.

See how the action unfolded below.


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Good evening and welcome to Sports Mole's live commentary of Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season against Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

The teams news is with us here, so without further ado...

Spurs: Freidel; Walker, Dawson, Veljkovic, Rose; Holtby, Capoue, Mason, Townsend, Lamela; Kane.

Chicago Fire: Johnson; Palmer, Larentowicz, Ianni, Segares; Ward, Ritter, Watson, Shipp; Magee, Amarikwa

Spurs subs: McGee, Davies, Kaboul, Naughton, Fredericks, Lennon, Eriksen, Ceballos, Soldado, Falque

Chicago subs: Reynish, Soumare, Alex, Duka, Pause, Fondy, Cocrane, Kinney, Cocis, Hurtado, Joya

So Pochettino opts for Harry Kane up top with Andros Townsend and Erik Lamela in the wide positions. It will be interesting to see how Lamela does this evening. The winger endured a miserable campaign last term following his club-record £30m switch from Roma, but the Argentinian has been bright on this tour. He is handed another chance to impress this evening.

Spurs, of course, end their tour following the conclusion of this match, and Pochettino is looking for his side to go out on a high. Speaking to the club's official website, the Spurs boss said: "It's the last game on our Tour, we hope our fans will enjoy it and we expect another good performance.

Pochettino also reserved a word of thanks to the club's supporters. "Thank-you very much for your support," he added. "It's been important to us throughout our Tour of North America."

Iit's been a busy week for Spurs on the transfer front of course. On Wednesday, the club confirmed that they had bought Michel Vorm and Ben Davies from Swansea City, while Glyfi Sigurdsson headed the other way, and Pochettino has also talked up Davies following his reported £10m switch.

"We're very happy with him," he said. "He's a good guy & a good player. He will take time to adapt but we know his quality."



Both teams have been through their warm-ups. We're around five minutes or so from getting started.

Following the concluding of the tour, Spurs play Celtic and Schalke before they get their new Premier League season underway against West Ham United.

A man who'll be keen to impress this evening is Grant Ward. The Spurs youngster is on loan at Chicago Fire, so you would suggest that he'll be out to catch Pochettino's eye.

The two teams are just leaving the tunnel, so we're not far off kick now...

KICK OFF And we're off and running!

A slip by Danny Rose allows Grant Ward in wide right, but the winger's cross was cut out by Michael Dawson's header. Ward, as mentioned, will be eager to impress this evening.

GOAL! Chicago Fire 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Harry Kane)

Lewis Holtby robbed a defender of possession around 12 yards out and the young striker is afforded the easiest of goals as he taps in from six yards out. Great start for Spurs.

Better from Danny Rose as he snaps into a tackle to halt an attack on the halfway line, before Andros Townsend goes on a driving run at the heart of the Fire defence.

Not a lot happening at the moment, Kane was nearly put through with a ball over the top but goalkeeper Sean Johnson eventually gathered safely.

Holtby loses the ball in a dangerous position but he eventually makes amends with the interception inside the area. The resulting corner is easily cleared and it goes all the way back to Johnson.

Good effort from Magee who tries an audacious lob after the pass put him through a touch wide. He almost pulled it off too as it dropped onto the top of the net.

This game certainly has the feel of a pre-season game at the moment. Low tempo with both teams content to keep possession. Not many chances being carved out by either side.

Townsend is cynically brought down by Larentowicz. Good position for Spurs, but Lamela can only curl the effort over the top of the bar. Not particularly close from the wideman.

Great effort from Ward from around 25 yards out, but Friedel beats it away to safety. Good stop from the American goalkeeper. Better from the home side. Harry Kane then wastes a good chance to feed Townsend as he overhits it with his teammate running in behind.

The home support are in full voice and are certainly enjoying their afternoon. The action has not matched the atmosphere so far.

Lamela with some good work. He skips past two challenges before hammering in a long-range effort. Johnson is equal to it though as he tips it away to safety. A lot better from Spurs.

It's another poor delivery from Chicago as Spurs easily cut out the free kick. Kyle Walker spent the World Cup out with injury, and the right-back looks as though he's finding it hard adapting to the pace. It'll certainly be a good workout for the defender, that is for sure.

CHANCE! Lamela with another run and shot and this time Johnson reacts well and tips it to his right. The winger has been lively so far when he has had it.

Velijkovic has been forced to leave with an injury. He was involved in a collision, but is set to come back on.

Ward skips Velijkovic with a smart dribble before he is brought down wide right. The delivery is a lot better this time but no one can take advantage at the back post. Better from the home side.

Kane runs away from a challenge before crossing back into the six-yard box, but it's taken off the toe of Townsend by a Chicago defender. Nice play from Holtby to feed his teammate in the build-up.

It's nice build up from Lamela and Holtby, and it eventually reaches Danny Rose but the full-back gets it wrong as he loses the ball as he tries to get to the byline.

HALF TIME: Chicago Fire 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Well, a particularly dull first half. Not much happening from either side. Erik Lamela has looked bright with a couple of decent efforts, but other than that, a drab affair.


Elsewhere in pre-season games, Manchester United beat Roma 3-2, while Arsenal sipped to a 1-0 reverse to New York. DC United were beaten 3-0 by Fulham, and Aston Villa play Houston Dynamo at 3am.


So hopefully, we'll get an improvement in this second half. Both teams are coming out from the tunnel, we're moments away. Both teams have made wholesale changes...

KICK OFF We're now underway...

Aaron Lennon, Roberto Soldado and Kyle Naughton, Christian Erksen and new boy Ben Davies are on for Spurs.

A similar start to the second half here, not a lot going on. Dawson goes long to Holtby but it's too heavy for the German.

Spurs keeping possession well for spells for they seem in a rush to get it forward at times and moves are breaking down too easily. They're also leaving Soldado isolated in parts.

CHANCE! Ben Davies gets forward and lashes in a powerful effort from the edge of the box. It isn't particularly close, but in a gam of few chances, that was Spurs' best effort of the half so far.

Eriksen with a nice turn of pace to take him past two players and he gets it back from Soldado before floating a pass to the back post, but the moves breaks down. A touch of class from the Dane.

Soldado of all people, gets back to halt a Fire attack. He was almost playing as a right-back there. Both teams seem content with proceedings. Yago Falque has come on for Lewis Holbty.

Christian Eriksen once again displays his class with a lovely ball in behind the defence. Fire go up the other end and put together some neat approach play before Duka lets fly from the edge of the box. Friedel holds it comfortably though.

Davies is almost dispossessed on the edge of the box, but eventually manages to scramble it clear. Dangerous play from the defender. Aaron Lennon receives it wide right and is on the end of a heavy-looking tackle, but the referee sees no problem with the challenge and play continues.

Better from Spurs as Falque and Soldado link up with the latter getting fed into the area. His strike is blocked by some good defending though.

CHANCE! More indecision in the defensive areas from Spurs as Fandy gets it one versus one with Dawson, but his shot is well blocked by the centre-back. Meanwhile Luke McGee has come on for Brad Friedel in the Spurs goal.

Eriksen with another sharp turn of pace sees him almost escape a tackle from Cochrane, but he is hauled down wide right. It hasn't been the best game, but the Denmark star has been a cut above at times. Ryan Fredericks comes on for Velikjovic.

Nice positive play from Fredericks and the winger is unfairly judged to have fouled Cochrane as he tries to skip round him on the byline. That was harsh, it looked a foul on the Spurs player if anything.

GOAL! Chicago Fire 0-2 Spurs (Aaron Lennon)

Great play from Lennon as he latches on to the through ball from Soldado before skipping past Hurtado and taking it beyond the goalkeeper and tapping into an empty net. A bit of quality to light up the second half.

CHANCE! Eriksen almost make it a quick-fire double as he races onto another ball over the top. Good play from the goalkeeper Reynish to race off his line to deny the playmaker on the edge of the box.

We'll have three minutes of added on time here, and to be honest, the final whistle won't come quick enough for Chicago Fire here...

CHANCE! Yago Falque gets a shot off inside the box after a lung-bursting run to get on the end of Davies's through ball. Reynish holds it comfortably though.

FULL TIME: Chicago Fire 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Well as humdrum a game as you could ever wish to see! Spurs will be glad of the run out and Mauricio Pochettino will have been happy to see the likes of Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker continue their preparations, but for the neutral, there was little shout about.

Well that's all from me, I hope you've enjoyed the live commentary. Bye for now...

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