Woolwich Wanderers (Hong Kong) 31.07.2025

Both sides were very strong and within 30 seconds, Vicario’s clearance was won halfway inside the Spurs half and headed forward to Havertz, who set up Odegaard, but his shot was blocked for a corner.  Spurs cleared that, but when another corner came in, it was headed out to Odegaard, who dug his hot into the ground and Saliba headed it on, but wide.  In the 10th minute, Tottenham’s first corner was more dangerous than Arsenal’s two, as Porro’s delivery saw Raya wrestle with Micky van de Ven, completely ignoring the ball that went over his head and came out off the back post.  Richarlison reacted well to head it back at goal, but it hit Saliba.  That corner was won by Wilson Odobert and he won another two minutes later that Raya this time concentrated on and caught.

The press from both sides was causing the ball to be played longer, with Woolwich going through the middle, while Spurs were looking to the wings.  When Richi won the ball off Kiwior just outside the box, Kudus’ shot rebounded off a defender and went left to Wilson, who side-footed a shot wide of the keeper and the ball bounced behind off the foot of the post.  The ref gave a corner and when Kudus swung this in from the Spurs right, Raya again went under the ball as he tried to ease Micky away and the ball hit the far post again.  It came out quickly to Richi, who got it over the bar from almost on the goal-line, but it might have been with his hand.  Whereas the South London side were said to be known for their set-piece moves, it was Tottenham who were posing all the problems from the dead ball.

Rodrigo Bentancur needed treatment when Saka took his legs away cynically in the Spurs box, but when the Spurs man took Saka out halfway inside the Spurs box, it was he who was booked.  Following the cooling break, the Gooners had a period of possession, without making a lot of progress into the Tottenham box.  With seconds to go until the 45 minutes were up, Lewis-Skelly was over-confident in trying to try to take the ball from Raya and dribble it forward, but Pape Matar Sarr won it off him and just at the edge of the centre circle in the Woolwich half and he drilled the ball over the keeper, who had been well out of his box.  It had shades of Harry Kane’s half-way line goal in pre-season 2019 when he beat another Gooner keeper playing for Juventus.  It was an instinctive finish and well judged to land in the back of the net to give Tottenham the lead while the Woolwich bench and players were moaning for a foul on the player who lost the ball.

There was a response with two corners played in causing the ball to bounce about in the box, but the half-time whistle came to end three minutes of added time.  It hadn’t been the most exciting of halves, but the goal and Cristian Romero’s delightful nutmeg on Havertz deep in the Spurs area lit up the 48 minutes.

It was Romero’s attempt to drag that ball back between three Woolwich players int he Tottenham penalty area that led to the first chance of the second half, when the ball ran out to Odegaard, whose shot was deflected over the bar.  Havertz then set up Martinelli who couldn’t keep his shot down.  Arteta, who spends most of his time outside his technical area, got annoyed when Porro pointed out that he was being prevented from taking a throw-in by the proximity of the Gooner manager.  Romero had been caught when he was tackled in his penalty area, so it was prudent to take him off, with Kudus and Richarlison joining him in going off, with them being replaced by Danso, Johnson and Tel.

In the 65th minute, Odobert won a corner off White and while it was cleared, it was returned to substitute Mathys Tel, how took on Odegaard in the left side of the box and lifted a cross to the far post, finding Micky’s head, but he put it just wide.  A ball that came out to substitute Zubimendi produced a volley that Brennan Johnson got something on to take it wide.  In the next attack, Odegaard took a pull back but skewed his shot weakly at Vicario.  After more subs for both sides which seemed to disrupt Woolwich’s attacking spell, Zubimendi had two shots at goal with the second being scuffed untidily wide. 

Six added minutes were shown by the fourth official and when the ball ran out of play Arteta looked like he was going to explode as he claimed time-wasting.  The referee then started to lose it when he booked Johnson and Merino for pushing each other as they waited for a corner to come in.  Merino then did the same again, so shouldn’t that have been another yellow ?  A long ball from the left to the far post saw the hopeless White volley it off and that, as they say, was that.

It was interesting that Lewis-Skelly couldn’t deal with Mohammed Kudus, as the defender’s game is to be aggressive and get tight to players and in this case, Kudus had too much skill to get past him, thus there was a lot of shirt pulling and holding as the only way to try to stop the Spurs winger.  In contrast, Djed Spence did well to nullify any threat that aka might pose, but using his body to get between the player and the ball.  Djed did the same to Dowman when he came on in Saka’s place,  On the other Spurs wing, White couldn’t deal with Odobert, having to rely on fouls and conceding corners to stop the Frenchman, who was enjoying himself, knowing his pace had the beating of their right back.

The first half was punctuated by frequent free-kicks given by a pernickety referee, while the second half saw the official let play flow a bit more and although the Gooners had the majority of the second half play, they couldn’t get more than one of their 16 shots on target as the physical preparation Thomas Frank is putting the squad through worked in their favour aiding closing down and getting back behind the ball.  The presentation ceremony took an age to get going, but Heung-Min Son was eventually handed the Herbalgy Trophy.  It wasn’t quite the Europa League, but the players seem to enjoy the winning feeling and for the new recruits, it is a trophy of sorts early on in their Tottenham career.  The Spurs fans remained in their end, with the red shirts having filed out of the stadium soon after the final whistle.

Newcastle next up on Sunday and there will be an opportunity for more players to get some playing time in this climate, which will add to their conditioning.  So, a decent performance and a welcome win, albeit in a friendly.

• This was the first match between the two clubs played on foreign soil.
• Tottenham’s shirts had numbers on the back designed by local artists Parents Parents to reflect the vibrant community of Hong Kong.
• Pape Matar Sar was awarded the Man of the Match trophy.
• The attendance was a new record for the Kai Tak Stadium.