[ad_1]
“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 percent, compared to 46 percent, 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 harder.
“… And once again congratulations to coach Ricardo and his coaching staff, a great improvement compared to what we played before.”
[ad_2]
