The Inter v Werder game was shown live on FSC+ with the Tottenham v Twente game immediately following it. Inter is admittedly playing very poor football, so it wasn't a surprise that they were beat 0-3 by Werder. Since this game was on before the Spurs match, I knew Spurs had already won their group before I even watched one minute of the game. You can't do worse then lose, so with an Inter loss we were through as Group A Winners. This is a huge advantage for us since we will avoid the other group winners. Hopefully, we will get a weaker side at next Friday's draw. We can only get Lyon, Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, or AC Milan. Not too many of those sides scare me even though any will be difficult. Valencia would probably be the most difficult opponent followed by the French sides and AC Milan. I'd be ecstatic if we get Copenhagen or Roma.
The performance so far has defied expectations in so many ways. Everyone wrote Spurs off when the draw was first announced. In fact, many people thought we might finish last in the group. We were facing the defending Italian and UCL Winners, the reigning Dutch Champions, and a very strong German outfit. After all the games were played we had beaten every team at White Heart Lane, drew both of our away matches in Holland and Germany, and only lost once away in Italy. We set a record for the only team EVER to score at least 2 goals in every group match. In fact, we scored 3 or more goals in 5 of 6 matches played. We tied Arsenal for the most goals scored in the group stage of this year's tournament - 18. That's an average of 3 goals a game. I do believe that this is only the second time (Chelsea in 1999/2000) that an English club has advanced out of the group stage in their first try. Previously, the other English sides had failed in their first attempt.
We could easily lose in this next round. However, like I said in a previous post and like Kenny from World Football Daily said this week, Spurs could get all the way to the semi-finals if (and a BIG IF, at that) everything goes their way. Considering how some of these tables ended up, there could be a surprise team in the final four this season. It is possible to avoid the major powerhouses until that round if everything falls into place. Additionally, the draw should be extra sweet because Arsenal has a 50% chance of getting either Barcelona or Real Madrid.
It's a very exciting time for the club and their fans.
