Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Melaka: Having only one option to advance to the final of the AFC President’s Cup 2013 paradoxically became a source of mental strengths for KRL Football Club as they beat AlQuds Hilal Club of Palestine 2-0 on Friday.
Both clubs had accumulated three points with even goal difference before their game at the Hang Jebat Stadium but better goals scored would have taken AlQuds to the final had they only drawn with the Pakistani league champions.
“We knew that we had no other option but to win if we wanted to advance to the final,” KRL boss Tariq Lutfi (pictured) said during the post-match press conference. “A draw was not an option for us, unlike for AlQuds.
“During our meeting before the match we determined that we must win this game, so having only one option was good for us. It became not a problem, but a source of strengths for us instead.
“During the early stages of the match, we lost a few chances but we never lost sight of our only option, that is to win.”
AlQuds manager Ghassan Al Balawi, on the other hand, found that having more than one route to advance to the final was not something good for the team.
“It’s really a sad result for us,” he said. “We came to this game with two choices to qualify for the final, to win or to draw because we had superior goals scored.
“However, that was not to be. The first goal was caused by a mistake by our goalkeeper and defender. They made the goal easy for KRL.
“We tried to turn things round but the second goal by the Pakistani club in stoppage time really dashed any hopes we had to at least draw and see ourselves in the final match.”
Photo: WSG