An Interview with Bethany Balcer

In this issue:  The OL Reign forward chats about her love of Spurs, her career with the Reign, and the Women's Cup | Spurs Women vs Tokyo Verdy Beleza match recap | A new signing for Spurs Men | Previewing Wolves on the weekend

I had the privilege of interviewing Bethany Balcer today for Spurs Across the Pond. You will probably know her best as a forward playing for OL Reign in the NWSL, where she's had a very successful career so far, but it's no secret that she's also a big Tottenham fan! I was able to speak with her in between her busy schedule this week at the Women's Cup to chat Spurs, OL Reign, and the Louisville tournament.

That Spurs training kit really suits her, doesn't it? Wink, wink.

OL Reign's next match is the Women's Cup final against the hosts, Racing Louisville, on Saturday. Good luck to Bethany and the Reign in the final!

So close to penalties

Unfortunately, Spurs Women's run at the Women's Cup came to an end on Wednesday. It was another 2-1 defeat, this time against Tokyo Verdy Beleza.

Rehanne Skinner opted for a back-3 to set up her team for the first half, with Amy Turner in the central role, Molly Bartrip on the right, and Shelina Zadorsky on the left. Ashleigh Neville and Asmita Ale were in the right and left wingback positions. We also saw Angharad James replace the injured Drew Spence in the midfield, joining Eveliina Summanen, and Celin Bizet and Ellie Brazil got the start at the wings flanking Nikola Karczewska in the striker role. Becky Spencer was the starting keeper, and she was very active early in the match.

Tokyo scored first in the 19th minute through Ueki Riko, who would threaten Spurs' goal several more times throughout the match. Ten minutes later, her teammate Hiwatari Moka nearly doubled the lead but hit the post instead. Spurs came close to equalizing off a Summanen free kick, but entered halftime down a goal.

There were some halftime substitutions, with Rosella Ayane replacing Karczewska as striker, and Ramona Petzelberger and Jessica Naz coming in for Bizet and Brazil. I'll be honest, I'm not entirely clear what the formation was for the second half, because it seemed to shift a lot. For large stretches of time, Neville would double up with Ale on the left flank and they overlapped back and forth. At times Spurs also seemed to shift between a back-3 and back-4, depending on if we were in possession or not. It made for a more fluid second-half performance, and it was certainly exciting to watch.

It didn't take long for Tottenham to equalize. In the 56th minute, Spurs' high press paid dividends when a short goal kick from Tokyo's keeper, Tanaka Momoko, was intercepted by Naz, who passed to Ayane for a cool and composed finish from the inside edge of the 18-yard box. Ayane had had another opportunity just a minute previously, where she had a one-on-one with Tokyo's keeper and chipped the shot just over the bar, so it was good to see her immediately respond with a goal.

Tokyo took the lead in the 82nd minute in the aftermath of a corner kick that wasn't properly cleared, allowing the opponents to cross the ball back into the box. An unlucky deflection off Ale landed right in Iwashimizu Azusa's path, and her volley shot sailed into the top right corner of the goal. There was a head injury to Bartrip right before the goal, but the referee chose not to stop play and allowed the goal to stand. Neville had a chance to equalize in stoppage time in a one-on-one situation with the Tokyo keeper, but couldn't get around Tanaka to get a shot off.

It was a tough way to lose, just minutes away from a potential penalty shootout, but there were plenty of positives to take from the game. Despite another slow start, the team did well to grow into the game and become more assertive, winning more balls in the midfield and showing some quality buildup from the back at times. I was also impressed with Brazil's work rate on the left wing and was glad we got to see more of her in this match.

The only new signing I continue to have some doubts about is Amy Turner, but I say that with the huge caveat that she had not had game time in quite a while because of the situation with the Orlando Pride. So I will gladly cut her some slack, especially considering this was just pre-season. As she gets more comfortable working alongside Zadorsky and Bartrip, I'm sure we'll see her best qualities come out.

So while it wasn't the pair of results Spurs would have hoped for, I'm sure they felt the love from the Spurs fans that came out to support them in Louisville. It's going to be an exciting WSL season! Keep an eye out for my season preview, coming soon.

Ciao, Destiny

Spurs Men have made a seventh signing of the season, Destiny Udogie from Udinese. And he is... promptly going right back to Udinese on loan. He's a young player, only 19 years old, so a loan feels about right for his development right now, especially with the senior squad already so settled.

By all accounts, he's a very promising left wing-back but was unlikely to feature in Conte's plans this season, considering how well Ryan Sessegnon has been doing, and with Ivan Perišić newly arrived to keep Sessegnon on his toes.

I won't be watching much Serie A this season now that Venezia are relegated to Serie B (sigh), but I'll make it a point to catch a few Udinese games when the kickoff times allow.

Welcoming the Wolves

Spurs Men are back at home for the PL this weekend, taking on Wolverhampton for the early kickoff.

Wolves suffered a 2-1 loss to Leeds and a scoreless draw with Fulham so far this season, so they are struggling to score goals, as per usual. They also didn't do much of note in the transfer window, unless you count getting Adam Traoré back from his loan to Barcelona and signing Hwang Hee-chan to a permanent contract. Raul Jiménez is currently injured, so it will be up to the two of them to provide most of Wolves' attacking firepower, along with Pedro Neto. Significantly, they lost their captain and arguably best defender, Conor Coady, to Everton on a season-long loan.

However, we know that Wolves are a team that can be tough to break down, so this will be a test of Tottenham's creativity. Yves Bissouma could be a good option to start on Saturday, I would think in place of Rodrigo Bentancur, and we also have Perišić as an option to provide some pin-point crosses and quality set piece delivery (as we saw with his assist for Kane's goal against Chelsea).

Of course, the big lineup news for Spurs is that Cristian Romero is going to be out for at least a couple of games, by most of the (varying) reports. I have complete faith in Davinson Sánchez to come into the starting lineup and defend capably... just as long as we don't see any funny business—namely, Conte making him play on the left side of the back-3. #NeverAgain

Since we have tended to have pretty narrow scorelines in recent matchups with Wolves, I would love to see Spurs put them away with a few quality goals. Plus, it's time for Son to open his PL account for the season.

COYS

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