Zoran: I Disagree With Al Ahli’s Coach As They Achieved Draw By Way Of Referees’ Mistakes
Zoran Mamic, Technical Manager of Al Ain First Team, started his post-match press conference held by the end of the match between Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli and Al Ain FC, by congratulating the team players for their tremendous performance. He emphasized, “I think we controlled nearly 80-90% of the match and we missed many chances to score against the opposing team. Yet, in football the best performing team is not the winning team; it is the team who invests opportunities and translates them into goals. The most important thing is always to get the three points out of each match.”
Replying to a question regarding whether he expected such a scenario to happen in this match, he said “Indeed, it is difficult to predict such the result of such confrontations. Yet, I expected that my team will demonstrate a strong performance in the pitch and they did it. Al Ain performance was remarkable and scored two goals but lost a lot of chances. But it is a fact in football that the team who misses opportunities and do not score goals must realize that things will not go well.”
On the issue of Al Ain’s chances to qualify to the next stage following their retreat to the third spot in the standing of Group C, he replied “I think things are clear. We are required to win only in the next two matches.”
Commenting on why he replaced Caio Lucas by Saeed Al Kathiri in the last minutes of the match, he said “I think the aim of this substitution is to take advantage of the long balls through which I was hoping to score against the opponent team, especially in the last five minutes each team relies on the strategy of hasty access to the area of the opponent in the shortest way. This is why I decided to use Al Kathiri.”
As for having problems in Al Ain’s defense line, Zoran replied, “It is not easy to do everything in the right manner in the match. However, I think the back line is better compared to the last game. Also, do not forget that Al Ahli KSA has good strikers.”
In his response to a question on the goalkeeper’s performance, he stated “I think he was not tested much during the match of today. Yet, he is not held liable for the first goal. The same applies for the second goal which was scored from a strong shot that is difficult to be stopped or trapped.”
Zoran pointed out, “I do not agree with him,” responding to a question whether he agrees with Al Ahli’s Coach who stated that the result was fair. He added, “We deserved to take three points today. If they had not had help from referee, we would have done. If you give a penalty for a handball, it is a red card and Al Ahli player should be send off the pitch. Al Ahli scored their second goal despite an explicit foul. It was 300 per cent and not 100 a foul on Mohannad Al Enezzi.”
