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“First, let us also congratulate coach Ricardo and his team. It is fantastic that Africa can recruit coaches of their caliber, with their coaching staff, ”Mokwena said at the post-match press conference.
“[They have] great experience. A lot of quality and work at the highest level. So we knew from watching videos and getting data that the team had improved a lot in just a few weeks.
“It is not always easy to give a team your plan as a coach, and particularly with him, in the short space of time that he has done it. But clearly, when we did our analysis, we could always see that there is a game model, a way to play.
“And even the numbers supported what we saw, because since it came in, the possession stats have gone up to an average of 63%, compared to 46%, so that was huge.
“So we knew we had to play very hard, and when we didn’t have possession, we had to work a bit, stay compact, deny them spaces behind us.
And maybe at certain points in the first half we went down too early. And it also took us a bit to deal with their diamond in midfield, which took us a bit by surprise, even though they had played it before.
“But much better in the second half, where we get involved better, we push a little more.
“… And once again congratulations to coach Ricardo and his coaching staff, a great improvement compared to what we played before.”
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