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It definitely wasn’t the homecoming that Ange Postecoglou was expecting when he arrived back in Melbourne for his Tottenham side to play Newcastle United on Wednesday night.
Instead of a victory for his Premier League side, Postecoglou’s men went down 5-4 in a penalty shootout at the MCG after the sides finished regular time locked at 1-1.
The shootout itself took the Australian coach by surprise, as he walked over to shake United coach Eddie Howe’s hand when the 90 minutes had elapsed.
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Spurs midfielder James Maddison’s scored in the 31st minute to take the London-based side ahead, before United’s Alex Isak broke through Tottenham’s dominance to level the scores in the 45th minute.
But Maddison’s goal could very well have been disallowed, with vision showing his hand was used to control the ball before he scored.
There was no VAR in the friendly, so the goal was counted and the game moved on.
When it came to the penalty shootout, Tottenham’s Bryan Gil had his shot saved by Newcastle’s Mark Gillespie to even up the scores at 4-4.
Then came Harrison Ashby, who had the job of penalising Spurs for their mistake and seal the shooutout 5-4.
It wasn’t the game Postecoglou would have liked, but nonetheless, the support he received from the Australian crowd was out of this world.
Postecoglou was given a rousing round of applause when he entered the MCG, as a short video montage of his rise to highest level of the game was played.
In front of a massive 78,419 fans, he proved he was one of Australia’s favourite sons.
Both sides flew Down Under just days after finishing up their Premier League campaigns. Newcastle finished seventh while Spurs, after a promising run at the top of the table to begin the season, fell to fifth to narrowly miss out on a place in the lucrative UEFA Champions League.
Postecoglou earlier defended the friendly amid concerns for player welfare.
The Wednesday night friendly was Spurs’ last match before the off-season break.
Newcastle will front up again on Friday, facing off against the A-League All Stars at Marvel Stadium.
