Scotland defender Shaun Maloney has saved Gareth Bale from further scrutiny after admitting the winger did not dive to win a penalty for Wales last night.
He said: "I think there might have been a bit of contact, to be fair to Bale. It wasn't a challenge as such, he just ran across me and part of his legs touched mine. I don't think he dived. It was just a coming-together. I haven't seen it again but I have to be honest - my gut feeling was that he didn't dive. I'm pretty sure I didn't put a challenge in but I think there was some contact."
Bale had come in for criticism prior to Maloney's comments, but it was his 88th minute winner which ensured Wales claimed the three points against the unimpressive Scots. His teammate Darcy Blake, of Crystal Palace, has claimed the winger is up there with the world's best.
Fellow Tottenham stars Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jan Vertongen, Kyle Walker, Aaron Lennon and Clint Dempsey were all on winning sides for their respective countries last night, with Sigurdsson scoring a free-kick for Iceland. Hugo Lloris was in goal as France suffered a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Japan.
Today on HITC Sport we take a closer look at the German international Patrick Herrmann, who was linked with a £7.5 million move to Tottenham. You can find out more about him here.
Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici is set to spurn Tottenham's advances to bring him to the club. Spurs had previously attempted to lure Franco Baldini from Roma to White Hart Lane, and it appears they are going to have to look elsewhere as Paratici is happy in Turin.
Tottenham's under-18 side suffered defeat at the hands of Manchester United, despite a bright start. Josh Onomay gave Spurs a 1-0 lead, but they fell to a 3-1 defeat.
It has also been reported in Spain that Barcelona rejected the chance to sign Hugo Lloris this summer when he was still at Lyon. We take a closer look and ask why they didn't choose to do so.
And finally, former Spurs midfielder Edgar Davids has suffered his first defeat as joint Barnet boss in his opening match, seeing his new side slump to a 4-1 defeat to Plymouth.
image: © andybrannan
Dan Coombs
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Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.
As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.
He grew up wanting to be a Formula 1 driver, but it looks like this dream has passed him by. Instead, he hopes you enjoy reading his writing on our site, as we seek to debate the day's sporting hot topics.
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