Esteban Solari, head coach of Johor Darul Ta’zim expressed his pride in the effort and hard work of his players, despite not reaching to the next round after win BG Pathum United, a club from Thailand 4-1 in the AFC Champions League 2023/24 Group Stage, Group I last night.
“We are aware that we are playing against the best team in the Thai League, and it is a difficult task. In the first half, we struggled to match the opposition’s style of play when they played tactically.” Solari said.
“We tried our best to balance the strength of the opposing team and at the break of the first half we were determined to get back up after trailing 0-1. Entering the second half, my players showed their true game style and returned to being consistent in leading the game.”
“Even in the second half, every player redoubled their efforts and gave fierce opposition to the team from Thailand and when we won a penalty kick, it was a moment of awakening to continue the momentum of the high-intensity game,”
In addition, Solari mentioned to Natxo Insa, who has not played in a competitive competition for almost 10 months due to injury but yesterday managed to show consistency and dominate the central position after taking over the duties of Nathaniel Shio Hong Wan, who was suspended for collecting two yellow cards.
“Of course I was happy with Natxo’s performance in that match after 10 months without him and after recovering from injury he only went down for a short period of time and there was even a time when he complained of fatigue because he was not at an optimal level of fitness.
“For the ACL competition, it’s a good achievement after finishing with nine points but only a small mistake when losing 0-1 to Kawasaki Frontale caused the desire to go to the next round to be unfulfilled.
“The performance of the players during the ACL action this season is amazing when they give everything in the game in addition to the encouragement of every player who wants success not on their own court or away by defending the philosophy of the game pattern that is applied,”
Credit Photo : JST
