Academy hits six in Florida opener

Our Academy got off to a flying start at the IMG Cup in Florida on Wednesday as they thrashed Baltimore Celtic 6-1.

Taking part in the youth football invitational for the second consecutive year, we ran out convincing winners against the American side in our group stage opener with Ryan Loft and Shayon Harrison scoring a brace apiece. Emmanuel Sonupe and Ismail Azzaoui were also on target.

“It was a decent scoreline in the end,” said Under-18s Coach Kieran McKenna, speaking from Florida after the game.

“In the first half we started a little bit slowly and didn’t really hit our level as there were a lot of things to adapt to. We didn’t start the game as quickly as we’d have liked but in the second half we played some really good football and scored some excellent goals.”

Playing an 80-minute game, we got off the mark 14 minutes in when Charlie Owens intercepted possession and Loft played Sonupe through to round the goalkeeper and find the net.

We doubled our lead 10 minutes into the second period when Anthony Georgiou won a penalty and Loft converted, but a free header at the back post from an in-swinging free-kick three minutes later saw Baltimore pull one back.

A fine through pass from Owens allowed Loft to restore our two-goal advantage on 68 minutes, before Harrison netted from Armani Daly’s cross to make it 4-1 on 74 minutes.

Good build-up play by Joe Muscatt saw Ismail Azzaoui further increase the lead two minutes later, before Harrison pounced on a bouncing ball in the box to rifle home number six a minute into stoppage time.

We play our second match in the group against Mexican side Toluca today (Thursday) at 6pm UK time, 1pm local.

Spurs (v Baltimore Celtic): McDermott, Paul, Muscatt, Amos (Stylianides 69), Maghoma (Walkes 61), Ogilvie, Sonupe (Daly 61), Owens (Goddard 72), Loft (Harrison 69), Ross, Georgiou (Azzaoui 61).