The Korea JoongAng Daily

PAIK JI-HWAN

PAIK JI-HWAN

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou said Wednesday that he hopes new signee Yang Min-hyuk will “grow with the team and break through,” adding that the young player is likely to see his opportunities in the ongoing 2024-25 season.

Speaking at a press conference at Hotspur Way in London on Wednesday, Postecoglou spoke about the team’s two 18-year-old players, Archie Gray and Yang.

“What you want is hopefully those 18-year-olds, not all of them but you want the majority of them to start growing with the team and breaking through, so there is a longer term view which has to be taken from a team and squad perspective,” Postecoglou said. “We have gone heavy on the younger ages but that is a deliberate process because we're at the start of a cycle. If you're closer to where you want to be and two or three years into it, you're less likely to because then you are denying them opportunities. What we're hoping is, we're bringing them in but they'll still get opportunities at this point of where we're at.

“Again, the flip side of that is with Yang, 18-year-old coming from a totally different part of the world, different league and it's a massive step then say Archie doing it from Championship to Premier League, so we have to be mindful of what impact we expect from someone like that.”

Yang signed with Spurs in July, becoming the youngest Korean player to join a Premier League team at 18 years and 103 days old.

He is yet to start training with the club, Postecoglou said, but is expected to join soon.

"No, he hasn't arrived yet, Postecoglou said. "He'll have some time off. Their league finishes and I haven't spoken to the guys lately but I know he is keen to get over here and we'll get him over here. I remember with Celtic, we signed a couple of lads from Japan and Korea and middle to late December they joined us and it was good leading into January for those guys."

Postecoglou signed Korean midfielder Oh Hyeon-gyu to Celtic in January 2023. Postecoglou left the Scottish club the following summer, while Oh moved to Genk earlier this year.

Yang — whose name is often also spelt Min-hyeok, the same word in Korean but with different romanization — joins Spurs on the back of an impressive run with Gangwon in the 2024 season during which he racked up 12 goals and six assists in 38 league fixtures.

The 2024 season was his first season as a pro player, as Gangwon had him signed to a semi-pro contract at the start of the season, but signed him a professional deal in June.

Yang has never played overseas before, but still faced Tottenham as an opponent during a Coupang Play Series — an exhibition game series by Korean e-commerce company Coupang — between Team K League and Spurs in July, as he made it onto Team K League, the squad consisting of K League players picked by fans and coaches.

The 18-year-old winger will be joining countryman Son Heung-min at Spurs, who sit in eighth place on the 20-team Premier League table as of Thursday.

Before leaving Korea, Yang was supposed to cap off his Gangwon career with a farewell ceremony in Chuncheon — coincidentally Son's hometown — in Gangwon on Thursday. The event and a street parade for the team were both canceled after President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly placed Korea under martial law earlier in the week.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]

PAIK JI-HWAN

paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday in the absence of injured captain Son Heung-min.

A goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta in the 31st minute turned out to be the winner at Selhurst Park in London, sealing Crystal Palace’s first league win of the season.

Crystal Palace now sit in 17th place with one win, three draws and five losses, while Spurs are in eighth with four wins, one draw and four losses.

Son was not in the squad for Sunday’s match, as he has yet to fully recover from the injury he picked up during a Europa League game against Qarabag FK on Sept. 26.

He returned for the league fixture against West Ham on Oct. 19 and scored a goal, but Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou opted to exclude him from the match day squad for the Crystal Palace game as Son was not “feeling 100 percent.”

Speaking at a pregame press conference on Saturday ahead of the Crystal Palace game, Postecoglou said Son’s return was “getting closer” and expressed hope that his captain would be back in training next week.

Son’s prolonged injury comes ahead of the November international break, during which the Korean national team will play 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Palestine.

Son was omitted from the national team squad for the October fixtures due to his injury, with Mainz midfielder Hong Hyun-seok replacing him.

Despite the Tottenham captain’s absence, however, Korea picked up wins against Jordan and Iraq earlier this month with a more cohesive performance under manager Hong Myung-bo, leaving Korea topping Group B of the third qualifying round.

Until Hong announces his squad for the upcoming qualifiers on Nov. 14 and 19, Spurs will have a busy schedule in the coming days with their next match against reigning Premier League champions Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, followed by a league match against Aston Villa on Sunday.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min scored in his return to Premier League action Saturday.

Son scored his third goal of the season in a 4-1 victory against West Ham United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Following a fast break at the hour mark, Son took a pass from Pape Sarr on the left side of the box and scored off his left foot to give Spurs their fourth goal.

About a minute later, Son struck the right post with a right-footed shot. In the 55th minute, Son had a hand in an own goal by Alphonse Areola that gave Spurs a 3-1 lead.

Son had missed the past three Spurs matches, including two in the Premier League, after suffering a hamstring injury during a UEFA Europa League match on Sept. 26.

Son was also dropped from the Korean national team for World Cup qualifying matches against Jordan and Iraq this month. Without their captain, Korea defeated Jordan 2-0 in Amman on Oct. 10 and then Iraq 3-2 at home five days later.

Spurs improved to 13 points after eight matches, good for sixth place with all five clubs above them scheduled to play their eighth matches later on the weekend.

Yonhap

JIM BULLEY

jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Wolverhampton Wanderers will face Brighton in the third round of the Carabao Cup after being Burnley 2-0 on Wednesday, while Tottenham Hotspur will face Coventry City.

Wolves capitalized on two Goncalo Guedes goals to beat Burnley in the second round of the cup on Wednesday, making short work of the Championship side to advance in the tournament.

Korean midfielder Hwang Hee-chan came on after the bulk of the action, replacing Pablo Sarabia in the 62nd minute.

Tottenham Hotspur were spared second round action, having earned a spot in the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League. Premier League sides that have qualified for European football enter the league cup in the third round.

Spurs will now face Championship side Coventry in the third round. The two teams have very little head-to-head record, having most recently faced off in the FA Cup in 2013, with Tottenham winning 3-0. They last met in the league cup in 2003, also for a 3-0 win, and their Sept. 18 Carabao Cup game will mark the first time Spurs have visited the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Wolves have a more familiar match up in Premier League side Brighton. The midlands club one their last match-up 1-0 in February, but will likely face a tough game against a team that is currently second on the Premier League table.

Two League Two teams remain in the tournament, AFC Wimbledon, who will host Newcastle, and Barrow AFC, who face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Elsewhere in the tournament, reigning champions Liverpool will host West Ham, Manchester City face Watford, Arsenal play Bolton and Manchester United take on Barnsley. Wycombe Wanderers will play host to Aston Villa, Walsall take on Leicester, Brentford face Leyton Orient and Blackpool play Sheffield Wednesday. Preston face Fulham, Everton take on Southampton and Queens Park Rovers host Crystal Palace.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]

JIM BULLEY

jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Tottenham Hotspur’s newest Korean signee Yang Min-hyuk, 18, received his first national team call up on Monday.

Yang, who is still playing for Gangwon FC and will join Spurs at the end of the K League season, joins regular picks like Son Heung-min, who retains the captain's armband, Kim Min-jae, Hwang Hee-chan and Lee Kang-in and a host of new or rarely seen phases including Swansea City’s Eom Ji-sung on Hong Myung-bo’s first roster since returning as Korea manager over the summer.

Korea will host Palestine at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sept. 5 and then play Oman at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on Sept. 10 in opening Group B games of the third round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Yang, who has eight goals and five assists in the K League 1 despite only technically turning pro midway through the season, is one of four new additions to the squad. The other three are all in defense: Lee Han-beom of FC Midtjylland, Choi Woo-jin of Incheon United and Hwang Moon-gi of Gangwon FC.

Alongside the new faces, goalkeeper Kim Joon-hong of Jeonbuk Hyundai and forward Oh Se-hun of Japanese club Machida Zelvia are both still looking for their first cap.

In goal, Hong called up Ulsan HD’s Jo Hyeon-woo a regular pick and the most recent Korean No. 1 in the absence of Kim Seung-gyu, who has only played one league game since returning from a long absence after a January ACL tear. Shonan Bellmare’s Song Bum-keun takes the final goalkeeper spot.

Veterans Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich and Kim Young-gwon of Ulsan are joined in defense by UAE-based pair Kwon Kyung-won of Khor Fakkan and Jung Seung-hyun of Al Wasl, Seol Young-woo of Red Star Belgrade, Lee Myung-jae of Ulsan, Kim Moon-hwan of Daejeon Hana Citizen and the new call-ups.

Captain Son Heung-min of Spurs leads the midfield with Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Lee Jae-sung of Mainz 05, Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Jung Woo-young of Ulsan. Park Yong-woo of Al Ain and Lee Dong-gyeong of Gimcheon Sangmu complete the more experienced lineup, with Eom of Swansea and Jeong Ho-yeon of Gwangju each looking for a second cap.

Joo Min-kyu of Ulsan takes the sole remaining forward spot alongside Oh Se-hun. Joo is also relatively untested on the senior international stage, with just four caps and a goal to his name. Cho Gue-sung of Midtjylland is out with an injury.

Hong, who previously managed Korea from 2013 to 2014, was appointed as manager of the Korean national team on July 7, five months after Jurgen Klinsmann was shown the door.

The appointment was controversial, with the KFA accused of circumventing the official appointment process and undermining the K League by poaching a club manager.

Hong was in the middle of a season as Ulsan manager when he was appointed to the Korea job. He had led them to the past two K League titles.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]

JIM BULLEY

jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Son Heung-min scored his first and second goals of the 2024-25 Premier League season on Saturday to lead Tottenham Hotspur to a resounding 4-0 win over Everton at home in London.

Spurs captain Son put away the team’s second and fourth goals, managing the first on his own and then combining with Micky van de Ven for the second.

Yves Bissouma opened the scoring at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, put through by the increasingly reliable Dejan Kulusevski in the 14th minute.

Son, who had been told by Ange Postecoglou to give Everton keeper Jordan Pickford as much trouble as possible, was relentless in picking away at the England veteran. It didn’t take long to pay off — Pickford fumbled the ball in the 25th minute and Son was on him immediately, picking his pocket for the second goal of the game.

Cristian Romero added No. 3 with a header set up by James Maddison in the 71st minute, with Son beating Pickford for No. 4 six minutes later.

The final goal came off the back of a pitch-long run from van de Ven, creating the most dramatic moment of the match as the Dutch center-back burst out of central defense and carried the ball well into the opposing half to set up Son and give the home crowd something to really cheer about.

It was a resounding win for Postecoglou’s side and a return of the drive and intensity that marked so many of their early games last season but was often missing at the end of the season and in last week’s season opening draw with Leicester.

“The performance was excellent,” Postecoglou said on Saturday. “I said after the game, I thought the performance last week was excellent too, but you've got to also turn that sort of dominant performance into outcomes and results.

“We did today, we looked really threatening going forward all the time. We created many chances, different kinds of chances, and I thought we handled their threat which they still are from set pieces and long balls really well today.”

On this occasion, Spurs were helped along by an Everton squad that seemed determined to lose and lose big. They started off flat, appeared completely disheartened after Bissouma’s opener and never got back into the game.

“We can’t continue to make mistakes at this level,” Everton manager Sean Dyche said. “Every time we build something, we let it go again. It is difficult here and we are stretched. But it’s a strange situation. In my 19 months we build something and go back down the hill again to remind ourselves of the challenge. What about playing when it’s 0-0?”

Son discussed both his goals with reporters after the game.

“Pickford has a very strong kick,” Son told Sports Chosun’s Lee Gun after the match. “I could see that he wanted to kick it but he was taking his time, and I think it’s the striker’s job to make it uncomfortable. That’s what you’re always looking for — today it paid off.

“Van de Ven sprinted an incredible distance and gave me a perfectly timed pass. My control was good, even though the angle was not. I felt good because the shot went in, but van de Ven created that situation with a great interception, run and pass.”

Spurs face a challenge next week as they head back on the road to take on Newcastle at St. James’ Park in Newcastle. It’s been a difficult fixture for them over the last few seasons, losing 4-0 in April this year and 6-1 in 2023.

“I try to think of every game like it’s a final,” Son said on Saturday. “I hope we can show a good performance. I think it will be a difficult game because Newcastle’s stadium has a long history and the fans are incredible passionate. I think we need to prepare well and try to bring a better performance and a better result this time.”

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]

JIM BULLEY

jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

LONDON — Bayern Munich beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday, finishing the preseason with a homecoming of sorts for Harry Kane and Eric Dier and a second Son Heung-min vs. Kim Min-jae Korean derby.

Neither Kane nor Dier, both former Tottenham players and now at Bayern, started the preseason friendly, but both were honored by their former club before the starting whistle.

Son and Kim both started, facing off for the second time in as many weeks after a friendly between the two teams in Seoul a week earlier. Bayern won that game 2-1.

Back in London, Spurs got off to an incredibly fast start in their final tune-up game before the start of the 2024-25 campaign, Dejan Kulusevski knocking in the opening goal just 26 seconds after the whistle blew.

Kulusevski created the opportunity himself, intercepting a ball from Kim and passing out to Son on the wing. The Korean captain crossed it back to Kulusevski in the box, who lost control of the ball only to immediately get it back on a deflection and slot it past Manuel Neuer to make it 1-0.

But that lead did not last for long. Dayot Upamecano tied things up in the 16th minute from a set piece, Guglielmo Vicario saving an initial header from a free kick, but unable to stop the Frenchman picking up the rebound and tapping it in.

Bayern added another 15 minutes later, Serge Gnabry making it 2-1 after Spurs gave the ball away in front of goal, with the visitors adding yet another in the 44th minute — another free kick, this time with Thomas Muller heading it straight in.

Dier came on at the top of the second half, substituted on in defense with Kim remaining on the pitch. Kane stayed on the bench.

Spurs were first off the mark again in the second half, Lucas Bergvall connecting with Kulusevski on the edge of the box and the Swedish midfielder slotting it home to make it 3-2.

Kane finally made his first appearance in the 78th minute, coming on to a standing ovation from the Tottenham crowd. Donning the Bayern armband, the same role he held for years at Spurs, Kane slotted straight into the middle of the Bayern lineup.

Son, who was one half of the most prolific goalscoring partnership in Premier League history with Kane, only had time for a quick hug with his former teammate before he was substituted off in the same minute.

Despite the addition of Kane's legendary right foot, Spurs were able to hold the score at 3-2 for the final 15 minutes of the game, weathering constant pressure from the German visitors.

Saturday's game concludes the preseason for Tottenham. The London club will start their Premier League season on Aug. 19 on the road against Leicester City. Bayern will face WSG Tirol in a friendly on Tuesday, before starting their season with a cup game on Aug. 16 and their first Bundesliga game on Aug. 25.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]

TREVOR TREHARNE

trevor.treharne@joongang.co.kr

Preamble: Annyeong, hello and guten abend from Seoul. Welcome to our live coverage of the clash between Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on Saturday evening. The game is part of the Coupang Play Series — an annual preseason exhibition game series organized by Korean e-commerce company Coupang.

The teams are in...

It's warm in Seoul this evening. It is expected to be 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit) at kickoff at 8 p.m. (local time) and will stay around that throughout the game. There is 63 percent humidity, so that may take some of the energy out of the game.

For readers overseas, 8 p.m. in Seoul is midday in London and 1 p.m. in Munich.

Here's what our sports reporter Mary Yang had to say from outside the stadium: "Thousands of football fans gathered at what carried the energy of a festival outside Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul hours before two of the biggest European football clubs were set to kick off for the first of two back-to-back preseason games. People carried a mix of hand-held paper and electric fans, with many holding frozen water bottles and donning a variety of sun-blocking hats, as they joined the crowd waiting to enter the stadium for an exhibition game between Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich in the final match of the 2024 Coupang Play Series."

You can read Mary's full report here.

BY TREVOR TREHARNE [trevor.treharne@joongang.co.kr]

PAIK JI-HWAN

paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

A large crowd of fans at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul welcomed Tottenham Hotspur in sweltering heat during an open training session on Tuesday, a day before the Coupang Play Series match between Spurs and Team K League.

Spurs held a one-hour training session in front of the crowd, playing a short practice game.

Fans cheered when Tottenham captain Son Heung-min entered the pitch with other players. People peppered some of their loudest roars when either Son or Richarlison appeared on the big screen.

Richarlison occasionally waved to fans during the training, drawing an even bigger ovation.

The crowd also shouted Son's name throughout the training, with some fans wearing Tottenham jerseys to show their support for the London club.

Son did what he's best at during the practice game, breaking through defense from the edge to attempt shots. His teammates also boasted their forte, making quick movements to counter attack and clearing the ball like they would in a competitive match.

After the training, the entire squad waved to fans as they walked alongside the touchline.

The Coupang Play Series is a preseason exhibition series featuring European teams and Team K League — consisting of 22 players from the K League picked by K League fans and coaches for Wednesday’s match against Spurs.

This year marks Spurs' second appearance in the series after featuring in its inaugural year in 2022.

After Wednesday’s match against Team K League, Spurs will play Bayern Munich at the same venue on Saturday as part of the series.

Both fixtures, set to kick off at 8 p.m., are only available on streaming service Coupang Play in Korea.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]