Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Beirut: Miodrag Radulovic sought to keep a lid on Lebanon’s AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 expectations despite his side’s comfortable 2-0 win over Hong Kong in their opening qualifying match in Group B.
Lebanon had goals from Mohamad Ghaddar (pictured below, centre) and Hassan Maatouk to thank for picking up the three points in the opening game of the final phase of qualifying for the tournament and Radulovic is confident his team can qualify for the first time since 2000 if they continue to perform in a similar manner.
“We still have five matches and nothing is over,” he said. “If we continue with what we started today, I’m confident that we will qualify for the Asian Cup and the future will be better for us.
“I’m very proud of my players, who put in a convincing performance for me and for the fans although the injury of some players forced us to make some changes. The 2-0 win against Hong Kong is very important for us because it will give us a good push before the next matches.”
Both of Lebanon’s goals came in the opening 34 minutes, with Ghaddar opening the scoring 27 minute into the game before Maatouk doubled his side’s advantage seven minutes later, but Radulovic denied he adopted a defensive approach after his side had established a two-goal cushion.
“I didn’t ask the players to sit back and defend in the second-half,” he claimed. “Hong Kong played with a different tactic which forced us to increase our defenders.”
With the game between DPR Korea and Malaysia postponed until early June, the Lebanese are on top of the early standings and Radulovic’s side will travel to Malaysia for their next game in Kuala Lumpur on June 13.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/mohamad-ghaddar_lebanon_accq_afp_jpg_1.html
