Australian teenager Massimo Luongo had a bittersweet debut for Tottenham
with his penalty miss against Stoke sending the London club crashing
out of the Carling Cup.
The 18-year-old defensive midfielder made
his first appearance in the senior team after coming on in the 71st
minute at the Britannia Stadium.
With scores locked at 0-0 after 120 minutes, Luongo was the eighth penalty taker for Spurs.
His
spot-kick was saved by Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen as the home side
booked their place in the fourth round with a 7-6 shoot-out success.
Tottenham
manager Harry Redknapp said Luongo would not have been required had
experienced frontman Roman Pavlyuchenko knocked home his penalty in the
shoot-out.
“He is OK, of course,” Redknapp said.
“If Pavlyuchenko had scored, he wouldn’t have had to take one, would he?
“It would have been all over, but that is how it goes.
“The kid had the bottle to step up and take one.”
Stoke manager Tony Pulis praised Luongo, who hails from Sydney, for his performance against last season’s FA Cup finalist.
“At least he had the strength of character to go up and do it,” Pulis said.
“I thought he played well. He looked a decent young player.”
Socceroos
coach Holger Osieck showed in March that Luongo was on his radar by
calling him up for a training camp for future Socceroos in Duisburg,
Germany.
