John Dykes gives his review after the BPL Asia Trophy on Wednesday.

By John Dykes

Friday's Asia Trophy final is not without its appeal: Spurs arrived in Beijing jet-lagged and lethargic but they destroyed West Ham on Wednesday night at the Workers Stadium with a classy display and will illuminate the final, while Hull City will be hoping to do what Portsmouth did to Liverpool two years ago in Hong Kong and score one for the underdogs.

Yet one cannot help feel that Wednesday's second semi-final will have left organizers the FA Premier League and host club Beijing Guoan with a serious case of the what-ifs.

Let's take nothing away from Phil Brown's Hull City who hung in there for a penalty shoot-out win. They arrived in Beijing as the Premier League's poorest team not to get relegated last season. Amateur crooner Brown himself joked at his opening press conference that his sing-along of choice this season might have to be "I Will Survive".

Good luck to them. Had they lost to a Chinese club side in their first high-profile game of the season, they could expect to be seriously up against it once the league proper opens against Chelsea.

Yet Hull will accept they could easily have lost to Beijing. Yes, Geovanni's early goal was a belter, but it came after he was gifted the ball. When Beijing drew level soon after the restart, most neutrals in the crowd could only see one winner.

But then Guoan coach Lee Jang-soo started taking off key performers: combative, influential midfielder Darko Matic, standout Chinese players Yang Hao and Yan Xianchuang as well as striker Ryan Griffiths. With them on the field, Beijing would most likely have overcome a Hull City squad still working its way towards fitness.

But then Lee was always going to take his stars off early. After Friday's second Asia Trophy game, he has to take his side on a two-hour flight to Chongqing for a Chinese Super League match on Sunday. Chongqing may be the league's bottom club but Beijing are a point in front at the top of a league they have never won in its six-year history, They are midway through their campaign and can ill-afford a slip-up.

The reason this tournament could have done with Beijing properly focused on winning the Asia Trophy is that the club has brought a level of passion and commitment to its hosting of this biennial event that we did not see in previous tournaments in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Guoan are a great club with a magnificent stadium (China's largest) and a vociferous local support. The BPL clubs took on national selections in Malaysia and Thailand and a modest club side, South China, in Hong Kong. Beijing's fans honestly believe their team is the equal of anything the world can throw at it: in a 17-match run of friendly internationals, Beijing held a record of 16 wins and one draw before Wednesday's defeat.

The fans are rowdy and hugely entertaining, and had they been supporting a team involved in Friday's final, the Premier League could expect a bumper 40,000-plus crowd. As it is, the attendance will probably be lower for Beijing's third-place playoff against a West Ham side which was surprisingly unfit and perhaps predictably toothless in the defeat by Spurs.

Having said all that, Spurs were highly impressive Wednesday, not least when newcomers Kyle Naughton and Jack Livermore got a chance to shine. They look like being a team to watch in the season to come.

In the final, Hull will fight them all the way - be sure of that. The one thing that can be guaranteed is that we will see more of the same "proper" football played. The Asia Trophy exists to bring an authentic display of competitive BPL football to Asian fans who otherwise see their heroes play insipid, half-paced football on their trips to this part of the world.

Expect nothing less when you watch the two matches Friday night. But let's hope that Beijing's fans regard an opportunity to beat Premiership opposition in the shape of West Ham as reason enough to field a strong team and to pack the stadium.