MUSCAT: Oman’s head coach Jaroslav Silhavy said that the team’s fitness level declined at the end of the second half which costed the team to receive two goals and lose the game. The Czech coach expressed his satisfaction on the players performance despite their 3-1 loss against South Korea on Tuesday at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in the AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to 26.
“I am proud of my players’ performance and their efforts during the match. They played very well in the opening half and they could come back but the fitness level declined at the end of the second half. This was the reason that the team dropped in energy and received two goals in the end of the deciding half,” coach Silhavy said in the post-match press conference late on Tuesday.
The national team's match against South Korea recorded a huge audience which reached to 27,144 attendees but all the fans were disappointed after the second consecutive defeat in the qualifiers as the team lost against Iraq last week in Basra by 1-0.
STRONG TEAM
“I would like to say big thanks for all the fans who attended the match and supported the team throughout the match. I deeply apologise for this result as our target was different than this,” he said.
Responding to an inquiry on the teams chances in the qualifiers, the coach said: ”We have met two strong teams in the beginning of the qualifiers but still we are having a lot of games remaining. Despite today’s result, I am confident that our chances are still available in this group.”
Replying to an inquiry on the Palestinian show against South Korea in Seoul last week despite their league level, Silhavy said: ”Every match has its own scenarios. We should not compare with other games. The Korean team is the strongest team in the group and they have experienced players who are playing in major leagues including some of them in European league,” he pointed out.
With the victory, Koreans moved to four points in the group and equal to Jordan and Iraq who have the same amount of the points while Red Warriors are in the bottom of the group without a point and Kuwait have two points.
Oman's next match is against Kuwait in Muscat on October 10.
TACTICAL CHANGES
On the other hand, South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo congratulated his players for the outstanding show. “It was a very difficult away match especially in the first half after the opponent pressed hard towards our side in the end of the first half and ended by 1-1 draw. The team bounced back strongly in the following half after making some tactical changes and the players converted that properly,” coach Hong said.
“There were some mistakes at the back line which allowed the rivals attackers to create some scoring chances. This was closed properly in the deciding half of the game by the players as they followed the technical plan properly,” the Korean coach added.
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