Not many Tottenham fans would have backed Eric Dier to open the club's account for the summer in their pre-season friendlies. Failing to find the net for the Lilywhites since the final day of the 2018/19 campaign, the centre-back produced a moment of brilliance to fire Spurs ahead against Team K League.
Picking up the ball on the halfway line and bursting through the middle of the park after a quick exchange with Bryan Gil, the long-serving Spurs man unleashed an unstoppable effort with his left foot that flew into the top corner. It came as no shock to see the player with a huge smile on his face as he ran across to Ryan Sessegnon to celebrate.
Setting Spurs on their way in a game in which they ran out 6-3 winners, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min joined their teammate on the scoresheet with two goals apiece after on own goal minutes into the second half had given the visitors a 2-1 lead. Dier's strike was undoubtedly the standout, with Son quite clearly shocked by it when speaking to SpursTV after the match.
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"Oh my God, oh my God! Let's talk about [it]. Eric Dier turned up with like Harry Kane's left foot or what? Not my left foot, but Harry Kane's left foot," he said. "I really liked it. I mean Eric deserved it."
Not just impressing with his goal, Dier, who captained the side to begin with, also caught the eye with his general play at the back. It appears that his performance was also noted by Team K League manager Kim Sang-sik.
When asked in his post-match press conference by South Korean journalist Sungmo Lee who Spurs' most impressive player was, the boss replied: "Eric Dier".
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte was also impressed by what he witnessed from his Tottenham players at Seoul World Cup Stadium. As the players returned to pre-season at different stages due to a number of them playing international football in June, the head coach noted his team trying to "push themselves" in the match and spotted plenty of positives.
"I think it was a good game and to play in front of 64,000 people is very exciting for the players," he said. "Then to find this atmosphere was great and for this reason I think also the players tried to push themselves even though we've just started pre-season for many players only three days of training session. Other players have started since 10 days ago.
"It was a good game. I have seen positive things. Other situations that we can improve but we have just started this season. Now the most important thing to try to bring all the players to be fit for the first game, because in three weeks we have to start the Premier League and for now my first target is to bring all the players to be fit and to be ready to start the league but I repeat I'm satisfied with the game. We enjoyed the atmosphere and we take positives from the situations."
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