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Summer Friendly Rewind: Tottenham beats Fire, Villa downs Dynamo, and more

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Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By RYAN TOLMICH

In what was most likely his last game on home soil, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Brad Friedel emerged victorious.

The American goalkeeper played 78 minutes and kept a clean sheet in club’s last stateside friendly, as Spurs knocked off the Chicago Fire 2-0.

It took just five minutes for Friedel’s Spurs to grab the lead, as the visitors took advantage of a Jeff Larentowicz turnover to bag an early goal. Larentowicz, who was playing in an unfamiliar centerback position, has his pocket picked by Spurs midfielder Lewis Holtby, who set up Harry Kane for the opener.

Spurs struggled to find a second, despite testing Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson throughout the first half.

It took until late in the second half, as Aaron Lennon doubled the lead in the 84th, combining with fellow substitute Roberto Soldado to open the Fire defense. Soldado played a through ball that found the speedy Lennon, who dribbled around defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, rounded the goalkeeper and calmly placed the ball in the net to end the night’s scoring.

Here are more friendly results from around the United States:

VILLA EDGE DYNAMO WITH LATE FIRST HALF GOAL

One proved to be enough for Aston Villa to remain undefeated on their tour of Texas.

Villa picked up their second win in as many Lone Star State appearances by knocking off the Houston Dynamo 1-0 from a Joe Bennett header late in the first half.

The Premier League side, who previously defeated FC Dallas 2-0, got their goal in the 41st minute on a sequence started by a Charles N’Zogbia corner. N’Zogbia’s intial ball went soaring over the box before being collected by Villa winger Andreas Weimann. Weimann’s cross proved to be much better, as the ball found Bennett, who headed home from the left side.

Recently acquired DaMarcus Beasley was an unused substitute for the Dynamo.

DEMBELE HAT-TRICK LIFTS FULHAM OVER D.C. UNITED

Fulham’s trip to their owner’s newly renovated stadium proved to be a successful one, as the club picked up a win at the home of owner Shahid Khan’s Jacksonville Jaguars, EverBank Field.

The Championship side knocked off D.C. United 3-0 behind a Moussa Dembele hat-trick, as Dembele netted in the 22nd, 44th and 72nd minutes.

The Frenchman’s opening two tally came via United turnovers, as the Fulham forward took advantage of United’s inability to clear their lines. Dembele completed his hat-trick late when given acres of space by the opposing defense, netting both his and the team’s third and final goal of the day.

ROMA COMEBACK FALLS SHORT AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED

After being down 3-0 through 75 minutes to Manchester United, Roma nearly erased the deficit with late goals from Miralem Pjanic and Francesco Totti. However, it was not enough for the Italian side, as United held on to bring home a 3-2 victory in their first game of the International Champions Cup.

Wayne Rooney’s  first-half brace sandwiched a Juan Mata finish for United, with one of the Englishman’s coming via penalty and the other coming on an outside-the-box curler.

Roma’s response started in the 75th, when Pjanic unleashed a long-distance strike from his own half that soared over an out-of-position Ben Amos. Totti added a penalty in the 89th, but the Italian side failed to muster another goal to complete the comeback.

INTER TOP REAL MADRID ON PENALTIES 

Inter Milan beat Real Madrid on penalty kicks Saturday in Berkeley, Calif. for each side’s opening match of the International Champions Cup. See SBI’s match report here.

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What do you think of the results? Which sides stood out to you during Saturday’s action?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think it’s funny that MLS purist try to discount these games as meaningless and unnecessary. The fact is many MLS players take these games pretty seriously, especially the young ones who perhaps one day might want to get paid more then $50,000 a year to play the game. I’m pretty sure there are way more European scouts watching the Chicago Fire play when they take on Tottenham then when they play the Columbus Crew.

    I’m not saying these games are as competitive as the World Cup but the MLS players, many of whom are foreign (trust me MLS is not their dream job) are going all out.

    I watched the San Jose vs Atletico game yesterday and was pretty impressed by the quality of the game, I thought the Earthquake subs should a lot of skill in the second half and seemed to up their game against the La Liga champions.

    Reply
    • Brian, I agree. The young goalie, Meredith showed a lot of promise and could easily start. hope. All the quakes to abandon the Bash Brothers style of play and will winning more.

      JoeN Santos

      Reply
  2. SBI didn’t cover the SKC/MCFC match? Eh, same as the rest of them though. MLS coaches are smart to field B-teams for these mid-season friendlies. But I feel dumb for paying a premium to attend. They’ve seen my last $$ for these glorified training sessions.

    Reply
    • The Sounders dropped these games for a few years….but now they brought it back.
      Put it as part of the season ticket package even, which ticks me off a little.

      At least they charged the same amount as an MLS game, so I was able to sell the tickets for a small profit.

      They are a complete waste of time, but tonight we get back to the real thing. LA will wish they were still playing exhibition games.

      Reply
      • They are not a waste of time because they earn money for the teams. 86,000 turned out for Man U vs. the Galaxy. MLS needs to keep enhancing its revenue so it can raise the salary cap and continue to improve. It also gives MLS players a chance to play against world class players. You can improve by playing someone better than you are.

    • If Man United fans can wet themselves over beating LA’s third string, then I as a Fulham supporter and predicting we are back in the Prem next year off this one win alone.

      Reply
    • MLS has reached the point where its coaches don’t feel the need to go all-out to win. So far, only the Houston Dynamo have fielded anything resembling a first-choice lineup, and that was probably only because they didn’t have many other healthy players.

      Reply
    • First of all that is cool. Everyone talks about KC building the new stadium as a turning point for that franchise getting great….but remember they beat Man U. Seemed to energize the fan base in a very big way.

      Second of all who cares ? Really just a bunch of guys who live in the US, but for some reason root for English teams. Read the articles. They highlight all the England wins, and don’t cover or downplay the US team wins.

      Why ?

      Because the fans of the England teams are the ones that care. Hopefully this is the first step to you not caring.

      Go MU…..watch my Sounders beat LA tonight !

      Reply

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