Tottenham 1-2 Sunderland, unlucky Modric

Unfortunately for the Spurs fans, the second game of the season resulted in a second loss as well. This was in large part thanks to Sunderland ’star of the day’ Djibril Cisse. He scored the winning goal at the 83th minute with a header. Earlier Tottenham Hotspur managed to draw level after Luka Modric, fed by Jermaine Jenas, had a long shot blocked but showed class in accelerating to the rebound, dribbling past two men in the box and trying again, but this time - despite Gordon’s parry - Jenas was on hand to score.

Preview: Spurs versus Sunderland

Tomorrow we have the Spurs and Sunderland going head-to-head in the first home game for Tottenham at White Hart Lane. It’s their second game of the season, having lost 2-1 at the opening game.

Spurs fans will see their nearly new team in action again with hopefully a solid performance. It will be another chance for Luka Modric, Dos Santos and David Bentley to prove their worth to the team (and their high transfer fees!). They will get better and better by playing matches together, however wins are needed early on as well if one wants to challenge for a top Premiership finish!

Likely line-up:

Tottenham: Gomes, Bale, Zokora, King, Woodgate, Jenas, Modric, Dos Santos, Bentley, Berbatov, Bent

Sunderland: Gordon, Chimbonda, Nosworthy, Collins, Bardsley, Malbranque, Whitehead, Reid, Richardson, Diouf, Cisse

Norwich - Tottenham Friendly, Modric scores

Here’s a video compilation of the Norwich - Tottenham pre-season friendly, ending 1-5. Luka Modric scoring as well!

Great performance by Tottenham! Promising for the coming season! Hopefully they manage to sign Roman Pavlyuchenko as well, who really impressed me at Euro 2008. He should be a great asset to the team…

Modric and Croatia kicking off in EURO 2008 Group B tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday the 7th, Croatia will play their first match in the EURO 2008 competition. Opponents are hosts Austria, the match will also be the opener of group B. Slaven Bilic announced his squad today, which didn’t hold any big surprises. The coach will opt for a 4-4-2 diamond formation. In the press conference today, he was quoted saying that all players in his team were important, also those on the bench. He also mentioned that the first game is the most imporant in his eyes. Modric told the press a similar thing after being asked if he would be at the center stage: “I’m confident I’ll live up to the expectations but the most important thing is the team”.

Luka Modric will act as a playmaker in the attacking position of the diamond shaped midfield.

The announced team for Croatia:

GK: 1-Stipe Pletikosa;
DEF: 5-Vedran Corluka, 4-Robert Kovac, 3-Josip Simunic, 22-Danijel Pranjic;
MID: 11-Darijo Srna, 10-Niko Kovac (captain), 14-Luka Modric, 19-Niko Kranjcar;
ATT: 21-Mladen Petric, 18-Ivica Olic

Also today, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was hailing Modric (Croatia), Benzema (France) and Gomez (Germany) as the ‘ones to watch’ in the EURO 2008 competition. Tottenham Hotspur fans will also keep an eye on their new signing Luka Modric to have a taste of things to come.