SEVILLA  1  (0)  TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1  (0)
Date : –  16th July 2022 Kick off : –  Noon (UK Time); 20.00 (local time)
Competition : –  Coupang Play Series Venue : –  Suwon World Cup Stadium
Crowd : –  43,998
Referee : –  Hyung-Jin Ko Linesmen : – ??
Weather : –  Warm (30C)
Playing time : –   90 + 6 minutes

 

SEVILLA TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
    Rakitic  63m (assist by Cruz)   Kane  49m  (assist by Son)
CARDS
   
 

 

SEVILLA TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
1.   Marko DMITIROVIC   (  31.  Alberto FLORES  46)  1.   Hugo LLORIS (c)      (  40.    Brandon AUSTIN  72)  
     
2.   Gonzalo MONTIEL  (  16.   Jesus NAVAS  46)  17.   Cristian ROMERO     (  25.   Japhet TANGANGA 46)  
30.   Jose Angel CARMONA  (  6.   Nemanja GUDELJ  60)  15.   Eric DIER
4.   Karim REKIK (  29.   Kike SALAS  46)  6.   Davinson SANCHEZ   (  33.   Ben DAVIES 46 [  46.   Malachi FAGAN-WALCOTT  85])  
19.   Marcos ACUNA  (  26.   Pablo PEREZ  46 [  32.   Juanlu SANCHEZ  85])       
   27.   Lucas MOURA  (  2.   Matt DOHERTY  46)  
25.   FERNANDO (  10.   Ivan RAKITIC  46)   4.   Oliver SKIPP   (  30.   Rodrigo BENTACUR  46) 
8.   Joan JORDAN  (  34.   Pedro ORTIZ  46 [  28.   Nacho QUINTANA  82])   5.   Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG  (  29.   Pape Matar SARR  72) 
19.   Ryan SESSEGNON    (  12.   EMERSON Royal  46) 
17.   Erik LAMELA  (  27.   Luisimi CRUZ  46 [  11.   Munir El-HADDADI  70])       
24.   Papu GOMEZ  (  21.   Oliver TORRES  46)   9.   RICHARLISON     (  21.   Dejan KULUSEVSKI  46) 
5.   Lucas OCAMPOS   (  9.   Jesus CORONA  46) 10.   Harry KANE      (  39.   TROY PARROTT  72) 
   7.   Heung-Min SON       (  11.   BRYAN Gil  72) 
12.   Rafa MIR   (  36.   Ivan ROMERO  46)       
Substitutes Substitutes
33.   Marius HERZIG 54.   Josh KEELEY
  56.   Charlie SAYERS
  22.   Ivan PERISIC
  42.   Harvey WHITE

 

Manager : –  Julen Lopetegui Manager : –  Antonio Conte
Kit Supplier : – Castore Kit Supplier : – Nike
Shirt Sponsor : – Degiro Shirt Sponsor : – AIA
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Valvoline Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – cinch
Colours : –  White shirts with red collar, white shorts and red socks
Colours : –   Mid-Blue shirt body with Black shoulder and arms and a Volt yellow insert under neck and around cuff, Black shorts, Volt Yellow socks with Black turnover 

 

MATCH REPORT
Billed as a pre-season “friendly, this match against Sevilla in Suwon turned into a full-blooded, meeting between two sides in the early stages of their preparation for the coming season that ended in a 1-1 with a few bruises thrown in.

Spurs took to the pitch in the new away kit, with a front three of Kane, Richarlison and Son that threatened an attacking intention from Antonio Conte, with Sessegnon and Moura in the wide positions.  The first action in the match was from a free-kick conceded by Richarlison, Carmona heading the ball wide of Lloris’ goal.  There were a succession of free-kicks won and given away, most of which involved Richarlison, who was being given special attention by the Sevilla players.  Our former winger Erik Lamela had been include din the opposition’s line-up and looked like he might be through on Hugo with ten minutes gone, but he was given offside by the linesman. 

After some loose passing on the edge of their own box, Son picked up the ball on the left corner of the area and looked to curl a shot into the opposite bottom corner but over-cooked it and the ball went wide of the far post.  That was after 11 minutes and there were few scoring opportunities until Harry Kane buried a 25 yard effort past Dmitrovic in the Sevilla goal, but the move that had started with Sanchez cutting out a long ball and Hojbjerg exchanging passes with Son before his pass to H found the Spurs striker offside.  That was 15 minutes after the first chance as the teams were settling to try and string passes together before there was a foul.

Papu Gomez had Sevilla’s first effort on target with the game approaching the half hour, as he hit a skidding shot from 22 yards out on the right corner of the box that Hugo was worried about enough to dive to his right to finger-tip wide.  Sessegnon then put in a cross to the middle of the penalty area and Son rose highest, but directed his header straight into the keeper’s hands.  From a phase of play that had left Sessegnon on the floor after a Seville player had gone in late and sunk his studs into Ryan’s foot, Sevilla’s crosses were dealt with well by the Tottenham defence, but a header square to Lamela just outside the box produced a first time shot that bounced wide off Hugo Lloris’ right hand post.

This inspired Sevilla into a spirited finish to the half, with Mir (when put clear by a poor Hojbjerg pass), Ocampos and Gomez all having shots on goal, but none hit the target.  And talking about hitting, Son accidentally caught Monteil’s face with an elbow that drew blood and the Argentine defender took exception, facing up Sonny as the half-time whistle blew.  The Spurs man pushed him off that brought a number of other players in on the act, with Romero and Richarlison first on the scene for Spurs to protect their team-mate.  Not so friendly after all then !

With Kulusevski coming on and having a shot saved, Tottenham scored with the second shot of the second half.  Bentancur won the ball with an aggressive tackle 35 yards from the Sevilla goal and played the ball forward to Son ten yards outside the area.  Moving forward and turning Salas on the edge of the box with a double drag-back, despite the Sevilla sub having a huge handful of his shirt, he managed to hook the ball through to Kane despite being pulled down and with the ball on the penalty spot, Harry did the rest, sliding the ball past the prone keeper to hit his bottom left corner. 

The Spurs goal had come five minutes into the second half and the game then opened up a bit.  Corona and Rakitic had shots off target and Son put one too high, followed by Perez and Ortiz both being too high with their efforts.  Bentacur’s pass forward intended for Dier was intercepted and moved across the pitch. Sevilla had space on the right and a low square ball was played to the edge of the area to Luismi Cruz, who laid it back into Ivan Rakitic’s path.  The Croatian veteran drilled his powerful shot beyond Lloris’ dive to his right from 20 yards out and the Spanish club were level in the 64th minute.

Spurs were creating a few more chances and Kulusevski put a shot over the top, and then had an effort blocked, while substitute Troy Parrot missed with a header.  Ben Davies was penalised for a foul, but came off worse, suffering an ankle injury that saw him come off the pitch after trying to carry on.  Brandon Austin came on for Hugo and a poor pass out of his area only found a white shirt, quickly moving it to Ivan Romero, but his low diagonal shot went wide to the right of the keeper’s goal.  In added time, Pape Matar Sarr fired in a shot from outside the box, but he couldn’t keep it down and it sailed too high.

A useful work-out, if a little niggly for a warm-up game, but there will be more matches like this during the season, so whereas the first game was a good work-out to get the cobwebs out of the legs, this was a lot more competitive.  Davies’ injury was the major worry coming out of the game, while the other players mostly put in good performances before they will return to the Hotspur Way training pitches and another fiery game against Glasgow Rangers no doubt.

A draw was probably the right result with chance at both ends, but the result was immaterial really, with the minutes in the bank for the players before 6th August being the important thing.

Kirk Hammerton