Tottenham Hotspur take Peace Cup in dominating win

The English Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur took home the Peace Cup trophy with a 3-1 victory over French league champion Olympique Lyonnais at the Peace Cup Korea final in the Seoul World Cup Stadium last Sunday.
This was the first time for Tottenham to play in the tournament while Lyon was the runner-up for a second time. Two years ago, they lost to PSV Eindhoven. Tottenham received $2 million in prize money.
Tottenham’s Robbie Keane scored the most goals, with a total of four including two in the final and received the Golden Ball best player award.
Scoring twice before he was replaced in the second half, Tottenham’s Irish forward Keane received huge applause from the spectators. A member of the Irish national team, Keane scored an equalizer against Germany right before the final whistle and led the team to the round of 16 at the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002, in which he scored another equalizer against Spain. However, Ireland lost to Spain in a penalty shootout even though they had dominated the match.
Keane was masterfully in charge of the field and making sharp, tactical passes. Tottenham dominated the field from the beginning and got their first goal off a deflection from a defender in the sixth minute of the first half. A cross into the penalty area by Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly bounced off Jeremy Berthod’s head and hit the back of Lyon’s net.
Four minutes later, Keane headed home Abdel Ahmed Mido’s low cross from the left. Again, in the 45th minute, Keane shot home a cross by Mido from the left.
The Egyptian forward got the Silver Ball award.
In the second half, Tottenham concentrated on defense, while Lyon’s Sylvain Wiltord, Sidney Govou and Florent Malouda kept applying pressure. However, they struggled to find the net as Tottenham’s defense held firm.
Twenty-eight minutes into the second half, Hatem Ben Arfa scored Lyon’s sole goal off a penalty from a handball by Tottenham defender Ledely King.
“It is always not a pleasant thing to lose in the final,” said Lyon’s manager Gerard Houiller after the game. Houiller said the team suffered from the hot weather and fatigue from jet lag. The manager said the team would seek another chance to win in two years .

by Sung Baik-you, Limb Jae-un