Tottenham came out on top in a seven-goal thriller of a pre-season friendly against Team K League on Wednesday.
The South Korean top-flight’s finest looked to have been well beaten by Spurs when Heung-min Son’s brace added to Dejan Kulusevski’s opener. However, Stanislav Iljutcenko scored twice in a wild second half before Will Lankshear and Oberdan exchanged goals as the Premier League team squeezed through to a fourth win of pre-season in Seoul.
Spurs were quickly on the front foot with Son taking centre stage by drifting in from the left flank, although things didn’t come off for him instantly as an early lay-off for Pape Sarr was miscued wide.
Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson forced a smart double save out of Jo Hyeon-woo before the hosts’ only real chance of the first half was fired over by Yang Min-hyuk, the teenager playing against his soon-to-be employers days after signing from Gangwon.
That prompted Ange Postecoglou to get into this players at the ensuing water break, with barks of “press man to man” after a couple of Team K League breakaways found their way forwards rather easily.
Spurs took the lead on 29 minutes when Son’s shot was spilled to Kulusevski, who took a touch before firing into the roof of the net as he spun.
Lucas Bergvall should have grabbed a quick second when latching onto Kulusevski’s cross, only to fire against the underside of the crossbar.
Soon enough, the spotlight shone on Son once more as he scored twice to round out the half. Firstly, the Korean cut in from the left flank to curl into the top corner before a stoppage-time run through the heart of the defence allowed him to calmly slot home.
Brandon Austin, Oliver Skipp and James Maddison came on at the break and the latter’s corner found Emerson Royal to hit the bar in a busy start to the half as the hosts introduced their best foreign-born talent.
K League top scorer Iljutcenko strayed offside for a simple finish in the 50th minute but wasn’t to be denied, despite looking to have wandered off again, moments later for 3-1. Within minutes, Spurs’ lead was cut to one via a deft far-post header by the Russian veteran.
The game calmed down by the 64th minute when seven more Tottenham changes welcomed the likes of Mikey Moore, Lankshear and Timo Werner to the action. The substitutes linked up as Spurs gave themselves breathing room, with Lankshear slotting home Werner’s cross.
It was necessary too, given Team K League’s refusal to let the friendly fizzle out and Oberdan’s stunning volley from a half-cleared corner set up an interesting final ten minutes.
Spurs saw out the win as Maddison hit the post in the dying moments and they will remain in Seoul for a meeting with Bayern Munich on Saturday.
