Muslimovic's injury a turning point: Gong

The prolific Bosnia and Herzegovina international forward limped off after 27 minutes of the Group H opener at Kawasaki Todoraki Stadium and just four minutes later Kawasaki took the lead through Renatinho (Renato Ribeiro Calixto).

And without their regular front man, Guizhou struggled to create chances in a game their J.League opponents dominated for large periods.

“The turning point of the game came when we had to replace Muslimovic because of his injury, which changed the atmosphere of the game,” said Guizhou coach Gong.

“That has affected us a lot, in our offence in particular, but we can always play our younger players as such experience can help the younger players improve their skills and develop their game.

“That will help us improve the whole standard of our team ability. The player who replaced Muslimovic showed what he can do for us.

“However, this is our first ACL game this year and it was good for us to learn about our opponents by playing away from home. I hope we can use what we’ve learned today in our coming matches.”

Kawasaki Frontale manager Yahiro Kazama, meanwhile, expressed his satisfaction with the performance shown by his team in their first official run out of the year with the J.League season not due to begin until next month.

“As this was our first game I was not sure how much well our players would be able to move, but they ran the ball well in today’s game,” said Kazama.

“Our players played well, making good decisions according to each situation and their opponents in order to collect a win, which I am happy about.

“When I look at the maturity of our team’s performance, we still have many to fix as our players didn’t match well in details.

“However, considering the fitness of this time of the season, I think we did very well to show the brand of our football to some extent.”

Photo: AFP