Bahrain aims to bounce back after AFC Asian Cup loss to South Korea

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi has called on the national team to focus on their next game and put their 1-3 loss to South Korea on Monday behind them.

Pizzi was speaking following their opening defeat to their heavily favoured opponents in the AFC Asian Cup, currently taking place in Doha.

The Bahrainis put in a gutsy performance against the South Koreans, whose class showed in the sec-ond half when they took control of the game, Pizzi said.

Now, the Kingdom’s senior men’s squad must look towards bouncing back when they take on Ma-laysia on Saturday in their second assignment in Group E of the preliminary round.

“In the second half, the Koreans dominated the game because of their technical talent and we have to think now about having a better result in the next game,” Pizzi was quoted as saying in his post-game Press conference.

“The Korean players are at the top level and it’s very difficult to reduce their technical domination.

After trying to do that, the players were tired and our adversary adapted themselves, and they were better than us.

“I’m satisfied with my players. It’s a big responsibility for me as a national team coach to choose the players and I think we have chosen the best of them from the Bahraini league.”

South Korea head coach Jurgen Klinsmann expressed his delight in coming away with the full three points but acknowledged that Bahrain made them work hard for the result. ‘Scrappy’ “We knew it was going to be not easy to play Bahrain today and it turned out to be scrappy,” Klinsmann commented.

“We’re very pleased to start with three points in the tournament, this is what matters to get three points in game one and then to look forward to the next game.”

Bahrain were dealt an additional blow in Monday’s game when defender Amine Benadi, who has been a regular on the back line for Pizzi, is now doubtful of returning to action in the remainder of the tournament.

Benadi suffered an injury against the South Koreans and needed to be stretchered off the pitch dur-ing the half-time break.

Saturday’s game against Malaysia is scheduled for a 5.30pm kick-off, Bahrain time, at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari city of Al Rayyan.

Following that contest, the Bahrainis face Jordan on January 25 at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, set for a 2.30pm start, also Bahrain.

The Bahrainis need to finish amongst the top two in their group to automatically advance to the knockout stage, or be one of four best-ranked third-placed teams from the six pools.