The latest round-up from Tottenham Hotspur’s international stars
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European champions Spain took another positive step towards World Cup qualification with a comprehensive 4-0 victory away at Georgia.
It leaves Luis de la Fuente’s in-form side in pole position to secure their place in next year’s tournament in North America. Spain are three points clear of rivals Turkey with one match remaining - and currently boast a perfect 100 percent record of winning all five of their matches, scoring 19 goals in the process and without conceding.
Tottenham star Pedro Porro, who has started every match in qualification, enjoyed a productive afternoon as his side kept a clean sheet and continued to edge closer to qualification. He picked up 15th cap and counting for Spain, with nine of those coming in this calendar year.
Pedro Porro continues to impress for Spain
Pedro Porro, who cost Tottenham £39.7m when he first arrived in January 2023, is a player renowned for his attacking instincts and his tireless energy to contribute at both ends of the field. He’s been a near everpresent for Spain since failing to make the Euro 2024 squad - and will fancy his chances of being the team’s first choice starter in North America.
Porro played just 45 minutes of the contest as Spain overwhelmed Georgia before being replaced by Marcos Llorente but still did enough to earn rave reviews from the Spanish media.
Football Espana gave him a commendable 7/10 match rating. When describing Porro’s performance they commented: “Continues to impress at right-back, although he was taken off at half time with Tuesday’s showdown against Türkiye in mind.”
Spain are now one game away from securing their place in the hat for the World Cup qualification draw. They would have secured qualification automatically if Turkey had dropped points against Bulgaria but Hakan Calhanoglu’s cooly taken penalty and Atanas Chernev’s own goal ensured things went down to the last game.
Nevertheless, it’s fairly safe to assume that Spain will be playing in next summer’s tournament in North America. The only scenario that would prevent them comes if Turkey beat them by seven or more goals in the final game in Sevilla on Tuesday.
Thomas Tuchel scolds Tottenham defender
England manager Thomas Tuchel has criticised Djed Spence over his behaviour after ignoring Thomas Frank last month. Tuchel admits he was unimpressed by Spence’s behaviour during Tottenham’s defeat to Chelsea.
Spence, who helped Tottenham win the Europa League last term, has three caps for the Three Lions, but was unable to add to that total during the victory over Serbia after being left on the bench.
When discussing Spence, Tuchel told Mail Sport reporter Craig Hope: “Yeah I didn’t like it. Because the players know they are not only national team players when they are in the 10 days in camp, they are always national players and the standard of behaviour is always important.”
Tuchel says he never considered dropping Spence from the squad because of the incident and adds that he’s not directly addressed the issue with the player in person.
England face Albania away in their final qualification match, leaving Spence with another potential window of opportunity to stake a claim for a starting spot at the World Cup in North America next summer.