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It was a catastrophic and disastrous result - Metsu
he UAE's head coach, Bruno Metsu, said that losing the opener of their campaign in the qualifiers of the World Cup against North Korea was a catastrophe and heartbreaking.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:03 September 8, 2008
Abu Dhabi: The UAE's head coach, Bruno Metsu, said that losing the opener of their campaign in the qualifiers of the World Cup against North Korea was a catastrophe and heartbreaking.
"It was a big disappointment to us and to the fans. It was a catastrophic and disastrous defeat," Metsu said at a press conference after the match.
"It was disappointing because we could have secured the points in our favour in the first half which we dominated totally while the Koreans were satisfied to watch us play.
"All they did was defend and no one player went beyond their own field except in one attempt at the end of the first half. The referee of the match ran more than our opponents which gave them an advantage in the second with my players exhausted because of their efforts in the first half and also because of Ramadan.
"We lost concentration in 15 minutes and they scored twice. I am not trying to find excuses for our defeat.
Mistakes
"It was very disappointing but that was what really occurred. We have only three days to work on our mistakes before we face Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and we will do our best to prepare the players both physically and psychologically."
Regarding Esmail Rabie, the second custodian of the team who played all the friendly matches and was kept on the bench while Obaid Al Taweela, the third choice played, Metsu said: "Esmail played a bad match against Bahrain in our last friendly match and if I gave him the chance to play and we lost, that would have serious negative effects on him." Metsu believes that the chance is still there for the UAE to win a seat in the finals.
"It was the first match in the qualifiers and we still have seven more to play. Anything can happen in these matches and the results are not predictable."
Metsu concluded by saying: "Next week the league will commence and the gate will be wide open for new players to join the squad."
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