Photo: Acabashi / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Tottenham Hotspur defeated Sydney FC 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in their opening Sydney Super Cup fixture at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday. Mathys Tel's free-kick opener was cancelled out by Takahiro Sekine before Martin Dubravka's shootout heroics decided the result.
Tel broke the deadlock on 29 minutes, curling a free-kick into the top corner after Manor Solomon was fouled. Spurs dominated large spells of the 90 minutes but could not add to their lead despite hitting the woodwork twice through Conor Gallagher and half-time substitute Luca Williams-Barnett.
Sydney equalised on 55 minutes when a deflected through ball fell to Sekine, who slid home on his first start for the club. Spurs continued to press but failed to find a winner in normal time, with Yang Min-Hyeok missing two chances created by debutant Andy Robertson.
The shootout went to a fifth kick. After Sydney's Joe Lacey missed their third attempt and Jamie Donley was saved by Gus Hoefsloot, Dubravka dived to his right to deny Alexandar Popovic. Dane Scarlett then converted to seal a 4-2 shootout win.
Robertson, the Scotland captain, came on at half-time wearing the captain's armband for his first appearance in a Spurs shirt. New signing Sandro Tonali also featured as a second-half substitute, converting his penalty in the shootout.
Tottenham's next match in the Sydney Super Cup is against Chelsea at the Accor Stadium on Saturday at 10.45am UK time.