4-3 v Team K League - 31 July 2024 - Away

We kicked off the Korean leg of our summer tour with an entertaining 4-3 win against Team K League at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Wednesday.

We were made to work hard for the victory despite racing into a 3-0 half-time lead with goals from Dejan Kulusevski and a Heung-Min Son brace back on home soil, with the local all-star side – who featured our new signing Yang Min-Hyeok in their line-up – pulling it back to 3-2 early in the second half.

Will Lankshear struck our fourth before Team K League responded through Oberdan with nine minutes remaining, and there was no further change to the scoreline despite numerous chances for both sides. It meant a fourth straight win in pre-season so far following victories over Hearts, QPR and Vissel Kobe in Japan at the weekend.

The first real chance in the game came on 14 minutes when Team K League goalkeeper Hyeon-Woo Jo was called into action for the first time, making smart saves to deny Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson in quick succession. Pedro Porro then drilled over from 18 yards before the home side had their first sight of goal with Dong-Gyeong Lee too high with his effort from 25 yards out.

We got a first real glimpse of our new signing Yang in the 24th minute as he was put clear down the left by Dong-Gyeong Lee, shimmied to create a yard of space and fired over the bar from just inside the area. The opening goal came just before the half-hour mark after Jo kept out Son’s curling drive, Kulusevski pouncing on the rebound and lifting the ball into the roof of the net from six yards out.

Five minutes later, our Swedish duo combined to almost create a second as Kulusevski’s ball into the box found Lucas Bergvall but he crashed a shot against the crossbar and the danger was cleared. We didn’t have to wait long to double our lead though, 38 minutes on the clock when the huge crowd got the goal they had all come to see, Son producing a stunning curling strike into the top corner after a fine pass in to him from Jamie Donley.

And seconds before half-time we added a third, that man Son on the scoresheet again with a wonderfully-worked goal. The local hero played the ball to Pape Matar Sarr, received a return pass before playing a one-two with Kulusevski, nutmegging Seung-Wook Park on the edge of the box and rolling the ball into the bottom corner past Jo.

Five minutes into the second half, Emerson Royal sent a header against the crossbar as we looked to continue to dominate the game, however Team K League – who changed their entire XI at half-time – struck twice in two minutes to put them right back into the contest. Both goals came from Russian striker Stanislav Iljutcenko, both from close range and both set up by Jae-Hee Jeong to give the game a totally different complexion.

It was almost 3-3 but for a fine block from George Abbott to block Jeong in the 66th minute but a minute later we extended our lead again, Timo Werner’s teasing low cross turned home by Lankshear from close range. We made a whole raft of changes throughout the second period, including Radu Dragusin coming on for his first minutes in pre-season, while chances started to come at both ends as the game opened up. Lankshear skewed just wide with Abbott sending a good chance over before Jeong streaked clear at the other end only for Brandon Austin to deny him with a fine stop. However, our goalkeeper could do little to keep out Oberdan’s excellent volley from 22 yards out in the 81st minute after he had punched clear a corner. Moments later Austin made another great save to tip Cesinha’s effort round the post, while James Maddison curled just wide as the game entered stoppage time and then struck the outside of the post in the final seconds of what turned out to be a good workout for the squad.