Zoran: We Closed the Super Cup’s Chapter and Sights Are Set at Coming Challenges
Croatia’s Zoran Mamic, head coach of Al Ain FC, inaugurated the post-match press conference of the Super cup match by extending his sincerest congratulations to Al Wahda for winning the Super Cup 2018 and commending the atmosphere of the match. “It was a great day full of motivation and excitement. Thanks for all fans and organizers for a job well done,” said he.
On the performance of Al Ain’s players, he said: “My team did not show their genuine level of performance in the first half against Al Wahda as we conceded 3 goals in a very short time. It was difficult indeed to come back to the match specially we missed the first penalty kick. In the second half I made certain changes and motivated the players to push themselves to the limit.”
“Everything is possible in the world of football and we were able to level the result and scored 3 goals. We were able to come back and we did it, but we lost the penalty kicks which are luck kicks in addition to skills and focus,” commented he.
He added: “I hate like any other coach to lose, but Al Ain was better than AL Wahda by a step.”
He responded to a question on the instructions to his players that it is difficult to talk about this issue but in general they were on how to improve the team’s performance and they did it and levelled the result.
He commented on Hussein El Shahat’s performance by saying: “He was not in his usual level but not bad. Indeed, there are big players who missed such kick and I am not annoyed that he wasted the penalty kick. What bothered me is the wrong passes and lack of confidence and concentration. If we can overcome such things, the team’s performance will be better and will put our hand firmly on titles.”
As for his assessment of the match in general, he commented: “It is difficult to assess the team’s performance directly and I have to re-watch it again to assess it.” He added: “As you know, international players did not participate in the training sessions of the first team. It was only a day before the match we played and trained as a full squad. The impact was so clear and evident in the first half and the team did not play well.”
Back to Hussein El Shahat, he pointed out that it was good to play in his homeland with the presence of his family and Egyptian fans. “I believe he will be happier if we won the title, but this is football by the end of the day! We must work hard and close this chapter and be ready for future challenges which will kick off sooner,” said he.
