FRIENDLY FIXTURE
WEDNESDAY 31ST JULY, 2024
(12 noon BST at Seoul World Cup Stadium)
K-LEAGUE XI 3(0) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 4(3)
K-League scorers:-
Iljutcenko, 52, 54
Oberdan, 81
Spurs scorers:-
Kulusevski, 29
Son, 38, 45+2
Lankshear, 67
Attendance:- 63,395
Referee:- Jong-Hyeok Kim
Teams:-
K League XI (4-2-3-1):- 21. Hyeon-Woo Jo (sub 1. In-Jae Hwang, 46); 16. Jun Choi (sub 27. Jae-Hee Jeong, 46), 25. Seung-Wook Park (sub 74. Marko Tuci, 46), 4. Jin-Seop Park (sub 5. Italo Barcelos, 46), 13. Myung-Jae Lee (sub 70. Anderson Oliveira, 46); 6. Ho-Yeon Jeong (sub 8. Oberdan, 46), 14. Dong-Gyeong Lee (sub 82. Matej Jonjic, 46); 7. Yun-do young (sub 88 Hwang Mun-Ki, 46), 10. Seung-Woo Lee (sub 77. Wanderson, 46), 47. Yang Min-Hyeok (sub 11. Cesinha, 46); 18. Min-Kyu Joo (sub 9. Stanislav Iljutcenko, 46)
(Armband worn by Wanderson second half)
Booked:- Anderson Oliveira (foul on Skipp)
Spurs (4-3-3):- Vicario (sub Austin, 46); Pedro Porro (sub Abbott, 65), Emerson Royal (sub Dragusin, 74), Davies (sub Bissouma, 65), Donley (sub Spence, 65); Sarr (sub Skipp, 46), Gray (sub Devine, 46), Bergvall (sub Maddison, 46), Johnson (sub Moore, 65), Kulusevski (sub Lankshear, 65), Son (Capt.) (sub Werner, 64)
Armband to Maddison
Subs not used:- Whiteman, Gunter (GKs); Hall, Solomon; Scarlett, Veliz
No bookings.
Another frantic feast of football in Seoul
Many thanks to Paul O'Sullivan for his stadium images
Two years ago, in the same stadium, against the same team (a K-League XI), Spurs won a frantic game 6-3. On that occasion South Korea's idol Son Heung-min scored two goals. Son did the same again today with two splendid first half goals, one of which was laid on by the excellent Dejan Kulusevski, who had opened the scoring with a fine finish.
The K-League side, consisting of players from each of the K-League (28 games into their season) featured 18-year-old Spurs signing Yang Min-Hyeok in the first half. Yang played and scored for Gangwon in his last two games, the last of which game was last Friday. He has scored 8 goals in K League football this season and had a chance to score today.
The K-League side changed their team totally in the second half, while Ange Postecoglou held back most of his changes. Spurs paid an early price conceding two goals to K-League's top scorer Stanislav Iljutcenko, both of which were made by the excellent right wing player Jae-Hee Jeong (aged 30). If it wasn't for his age, I'd suggest Spurs have a look at him, but we have plenty of young talent.
Three goals up at the interval, we were pegged back to 3-2, but 19-year-old Will Lankshear restored our two-goal lead in the 67th minute. Oberdan scored a fine opportunist goal, which put us under pressure again. Neither side was interested in defensive play and the game was open and end-to-end throughout. Spurs remain unbeaten in their four pre-season games to date.
Udogie, Phillips and Richarlison were absent due to injury. Radu Dragusin, who joined the squad after last Saturday's game, was given his first minutes at the end of the game. Surprisingly, Emerson Royal, still being linked with a move to Europe, was the last to be replaced.
Many thanks to Paul O'Sullivan for his stadium images
The World Cup stadium was sold out, and of course there was massive support for Son, who did not let his fans down. There some pre-match ceremonial and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was among those meeting the teams.
Spurs kicked off and again Kulusevski played centrally with Johnson to his right and Son on the left. The Spurs formation was very fluid, however. Jamie Donley had an excellent 45 minutes playing the Udogie role and was often found in advanced positions both centrally and on the left, where he combined with Son as if they had been playing together for ages. Lucas Bergvall looked assured in the middle.
Donley won an early corner after Son's pass. At the other end, Pape Sarr conceded a corner after an errant pass by Archie Gray, playing in midfield today. Pedro Porro was also playing his inverted full back role, and to good effect, sending a useful cross into the danger zone for Son, but the goalkeeper collected.
The Son-Donley combination won a second corner, which was taken quickly. Kulusevski's low cross was cleared, but Dejan got a second chance which was blocked.
Ben Davies was making his second pre-season appearance, and he sent a good ball to Son, who cut inside before passing low across the area to Sarr, who scuffed his shot. The goalkeeper made a double save from Pedro Porro and Johnson after Donley had passed across the edge of the area. After more good play by Son and Donley, Porro hit a right-footed shot just over the bar.
All this commitment to attack did leave Spurs somewhat susceptible to counter-attacks with perhaps a lack of bite in midfield and Dong-Gyeong Lee had a shot go over the target. Our most recent signing rued his missed opportunity to score with an inaccurate left-footed shot. This chance fell after a failed challenge by Sarr.
Postecoglou was not happy and gave his team some strong words during the brief drinks interval. The head coach was soon rewarded when Sarr found Son with a good pass from the midfield. Son's shot was saved but Kulusevski latched onto the loose ball with a good turn and neat finish in the right corner of goal.
Spurs had a couple off corners after a save from Porro before Son made a determined run across the defence from left to right, but his final shot was saved then cleared. Bergvall hit the bar with a powerful shot after Son's pass and a low cross by Kulusevski. Johnson scooped a shot over the target from a Bergvall ball but had been offside anyway.
That man Dong-Gyeong Lee had another effort pass just wide before Spurs increased their lead in style. It was a trademark goal for Son who received a good pass from Donley (in the middle) before moving to his right and hitting an unstoppable right-footed shot beyond the reach of Hyeon-Woo Jo.
Son doubled his personal tally in the second minute of added time with a fine goal. This time he was on the advance in the middle and shared a swift one-two with Kulusevski before placing his shot past the keeper.
Spurs put themselves under pressure soon after the restart with a cheap corner conceded by Austin. This was half cleared and Oberdan's warning shot was wide.
Spurs won a corner on the left, taken by Maddison and headed against the bar by Emerson from the near post. K-League responded and Iljutcenko hit the net, but three players had been offside. He soon had a legitimate goal after Austin saved but parried Jae-Hee Jeong's shot to his feet. Within two minutes Iljutcenko had a second goal as he stopped to head in a cross by Jae-Hee Jeong.
It wasn't long before Spurs had more fresh legs on the field. There was some desperate defending for Spurs to do though and George Abbott (19 in August) made an excellent intervention to prevent a shot on goal.
Spurs restored their lead when Timo Werner (having recovered from illness) crossed low from the left and Lankshear gleefully finished off to collect his fourth goal of the pre-season (two for the U-21s at Enfield). He was soon close again with a left-footed curler going just wide.
Austin made a great save from Jae-Hee Jeong, who might have been offside when he collected a pass down the right channel. James Maddison hit a shot just wide, and Djed Spence stopped another advance by Jae-Hee Jeong.
The home side scored a third goal after Austin punched out a corner, leaving him well off his line when Oberdan grabbed the opportunity with a fine shot from 22 yards. Austin saved well from Cesinha with a low dive to his left, and he subsequently punched clear when the same player hit a long free kick from the left.
In the meantime, Oliver Skipp had suffered a high challenge by Anderson Oliveira, who would surely have been sent off in a Premier League game. Oliveira saw the only yellow card of the game. Iljutcenko hit the bar after a miscue by Dragusin but had been offside in the first place.
Maddison was close again, this time with a right-footed shot across goal. Another shot was comfortable for the second-half keeper following Werner's cross and a touch by Abbott.
Five minutes added time had been indicated and when Spurs got nothing for a foul on Devine on the edge of the area, the home side broke out and that man Jae-Hee Jeong thankfully hit his shot wide. Maddison hit the keeper's right post with an excellent effort before the final whistle heralded the end of an entertaining feast of football.
Spurs play a Kane-less pre-season Bayern Munich side in the same stadium on Saturday. Bayern are now managed by former Burnley boss Vincent Kompany.
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