Spurs picked up their first win of their North American tour last night. The London boys clinched a late goal to round out the game as 3-2 winners following a brave fight back from the opposition.
(First half XI: Friedel, Naughton, Kaboul, Veljkovic, Davies, Capoue, Mason, Lamela, Lennon, Eriksen, Soldado).
Erik Lamela opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a confident left-footed finish inside the box. The Argentinian made a bright start to the game, looking a lot more like the player Spurs thought they were signing a year ago. He, alongside Eriksen and Lennon, frequently interchanged in a front three and opened up the Toronto defence on many occasions.
In an almost identical move, Lamela made it 2-0 in the 39th minute, linking up well with Lennon and Soldado before slotting home from a similar position. That was it for the first half as Spurs went in holding a comfortable lead.
Pochettino swapped all ten of his outfield players ahead of the second half, only Brad Friedel would keep his place.
(Second half XI: Friedel, Walker, Dawson, Fryers, Rose, Carroll, Holtby, Townsend, Ceballos, Falque, Kane).
Toronto were able to establish themselves in the game a lot more in the second half as a much younger Spurs side took the field. They managed to grab a goal back in the 63rd minute through Andrew Wiedeman after some slack defensive work by their opposition's defence.
In the 72nd minute, Toronto grabbed a much deserved equaliser. 18-year old Academy graduate Jordan Hamilton fired a shot past Friedel from outside of the box, following some more lethargic defending from Spurs.
As Toronto went in search of a winner, their defence was finally left exposed and Spurs were able to break quickly. Andros Townsend took up a good position on the left and fired home a great finish after Holtby played him in with a teasing pass.
Despite winning the game, there weren't a lot of positives for Spurs in the second half following a great showing in the first. Pochettino's men will be looking for a more complete performance against Chicago on Sunday.