My fault: JDT goalkeeper Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed made the defensive mistake of leaving the goalmouth wide open, allowing Kawasaki’s Marcinho to score.
PETALING JAYA: Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) may have let slip a good opportunity to turn the tables on Kawasaki Frontale in front of their home supporters but coach Esteban Solari refused to blame his players.
JDT narrowly lost 0-1 in a Group I match in the Asian Champions League (ACL) at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri on Tuesday and Solari felt his players have given their best efforts.
JDT goalkeeper Ahmad Syihan Hazmi Mohamed made the defensive mistake of leaving the goalmouth wide open, allowing Kawasaki striker Marcinho to score what turned out to be the only goal in the last minute of the first half.
“I don’t like to lose but if we lose, this is the way to go because we played well and made the opposition nervous before they won,” said the Argentinian coach, who guided JDT to the FA Cup in July.
On Ahmad Syihan’s judgement that led to Marcinho’s goal, Solari said mistakes in football are part of the game and we can’t blame any player for it.
“Perhaps Ahmad Syihan made an unwise decision to get out of position but I refuse to blame him because the decision was made so quickly and he failed to catch the ball.
“We should have been given a penalty kick after Arif (Aiman Hanapi) was brought down about two centimetres inside the penalty box but the referee continued the game, so I think there was no luck for us in the match.
“Anyway, in the second half, we managed to make the opposing team restless after applying pressure continuously.
“But we could not finish things off. It’s still a positive result against an elite club from Japan,” he said.
On the other hand, Kawasaki coach Toru Oniki did not expect JDT to put up such a strong fight.
JDT held Kawasaki to a goalless draw in the first leg before losing 0-5 in the second leg in the ACL last year.
Oniki admitted that the quality possessed by JDT was clearly different compared to last season as the Southern Tigers almost punished his team in the last 20 minutes.
“This is the first match of the group stage and this victory means a lot to us especially to get three points away from home. It is not an easy task to perform here with the crowd cheering and trying to affect the players’ concentration.
“JDT also displayed a quality and high-intensity game, they are better than last year.
“So I am very satisfied to bring home three points tonight. This win is also for the supporters who are willing to fly from Japan to support us,” said Oniki, who also praised JDT’s young striker Arif, who managed to break through his defence several times.
“The player number 42 is a talented player, I know his ability and instructed the players to control him but he is still able to attack, dribble and make direct attempts at goal.”
