Auckland FC (Away) 26.07.2026

De Zerbi opened the game with Archie Gray as captain and most experienced player of the eleven, handing the younger players an opportunity to stake their claim for involvement once the real action begins.  Brandon Austin, Tye Hall, Rio Kyerematen, Malachi Hardy, Kota Takai, Luca Williams-Barnett, Mikey Moore, Jamie Donley and Dane Scarlett were all on the pitch at kick off with want-away Manor Solomon.

.Just a minute into the match, Tottenham got caught playing the ball out from the back and it resulted in Normann drilling a low shot at goal from 20 yards out that Brandon Austin had to dive low to his right to beat away and a couple of minutes later, Spurs won the ball high up and Manor Solomon’s cross was headed wide from the middle of the six yard box by Luca Williams-Barnett when perhaps Dane Scarlett was better placed just behind him.  The Tottenham press was causing Auckland to turn over the ball, but Sakai made a run up the home side’s right wing and pulled it back for Fitzharris, who completely missed his kick when he had a clear sight of goal.  

Working the ball through the pitch, captain Archie Gray was instrumental in pushing the team forward and the passing was generally very sharp.  When Wynne gave a loose ball out of defence straight to Archie, he took a touch, looked up and played a perfect ball over the defence for Solomon to come in from the right into the box and side-foot a volley at goal.  Keeper Woud got down to it, but could only parry it in front of goal, where Dane Scarlett showed his striker’s instinct to put the loose ball into the net before the Auckland players could react.  a goal to the good after 11 and a half minutes, so would Tottenham settle for that, as they did against MK Dons or would they look to press home their advantage.

Auckland responded with a move down the left that was played in to Bayliss who got the ball stuck under his feet and let Spurs off, but Mikey Moore was getting into space on the Tottenham left, putting one ball into the middle of the box without a Spurs anywhere like following it in and then bending a cross that Dane dived at but couldn’t quite reach.  Halfway through the half and Jamie Donley made a move into the right corner of the box before curling a shot a yard or so wide, then a defensive block prevented Williams-Barnett’s shot getting anywhere near the goal.  The young Spurs players were playing with a care-freestyle as refreshing as the Auckland rain that fell through the first half, with the absence of a hydration break also a refreshing change.

The wet conditions were making it a little difficult on the turf, although a couple of the challenges were more in keeping with the All Blacks who more regularly stage matches at this stadium.  There were large areas of empty seating as the ground holds 60,000 and the biggest previous crowd for a football match was 42,000 for a Women’s World Cup semi-final, so this match didn’t quite match that, although it was the highest attendance for a men’s football match in the country !  The crowd were generally quiet and there were groans when Mikey Moore got the bounce of the ball off Sakai and pulled it back to Williams-Barnett who opened his body up a bit too much and ended up squirting the ball square rather than at goal.  Donley tried his luck from 25 yards with Woud keeping it out low to his left and from the corner, it was worked to Williams’ Barnett whose effort was headed away by Sakai when it looked like it was going on target.  Eight minutes before half-time, Scarlett hit a shot at goal from the edge of the box and the Auckland keeper made an unconvincing save, pushing the ball up without getting two strong hands behind it and was grateful to see the ball drop over the bar and behind the goal. 

Two minutes before half-time, Auckland should have equalised when a cross was played in from the right for Bayliss, who chose to chest the ball down and he didn’t do it very well, with the ball running towards Austin, who was sharp in making the decision to get close to him, the ball deflecting off his leg and away.  Tottenham’s response was a couple of balls into the box by Jamie Donley, one claimed by the keeper low at his near post and the second headed behind for a corner, but the ref blew dead on 45 minutes.

A minute after the interval, substitute Prins bundled his way through from the halfway line, playing a ball into the near post, but Rio Kyerematen came across to slide the ball away for a corner.  Then Prins tried an unusual finish from ten yards out when the ball was played slightly behind him.  The game was quite old-fashioned in a way, with the referee allowing a lot of physical contact to go without stopping the match.

After nearly catching the keeper in possession a yard off his line and closing down defenders on the ball quickly, Scarlett had an opportunity to shoot from outside the box, with a defender getting in the way.  After a raft of Spurs substitutions just after the hour, the crowd got noisy when Richi was taken out with a hefty challenge, but it wasn’t given as a foul.  The Brazilian took a cross down from Tel on his chest, but the ball just ran away from him with 66 minutes on the clock.  From a free-kick in mid-pitch for handball, Spurs knocked the ball around from right to left and Mathys Tel showed good footwork to take on his man and get to the dead-ball line, from where he pulled the ball back to Richarlison just inside the six-yard box at the near post and he had the simple task of passing the ball past the keeper for 2-0.

Mathys tricked his marker in the box before letting go a shot to the near post that sub keeper Knowles did well to keep out at the expense of a corner.  As the clock was ticking down to full-time, Richarlison dispossessed a defender and slid a ball to the near post although the ball was a little too far ahead of Tyrese Hall.

Another good exercise to get time in the players’ legs, although some of the game was played at walking pace.  If this is the best team in the A League last season, our youngsters did well to make them look ordinary.  The few chances they had, they lost composure with their finishes and Austin only had to make a couple of saves that stretched him.  Some of the Auckland attacking came when the ball was being played out from the back and if Spurs fans had been worked up about that in the past, be afraid, be very afraid, as it is going to be even more of a tactic under the new boss.  Having said that, the players out there today looked comfortable with it and were technically able to do so on most occasions, probably aware that the press from the home side wouldn’t be too heavy and there would be space to do it.  Whether that would be the case in the Premier League remains to be seen.

The youngsters didn’t let themselves down and when the more established players entered from the bench after an hour, there was a little more control and Tel did very well on the left wing, setting up Richarlison’s goal.  Archie looked particularly good as the man in front of the back four, spreading the play with a good array of passing and looking to move the ball forward while covering a large part of the pitch with his movement and reading of the game.

Onto Sydney to meet the local side there, with some other non-playing members of the squad perhaps getting a run-out before the Chelsea game at the weekend.

• At 40,112, this was the biggest attendance for a men’s match in New Zealand.