Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard congratulated the Bahraini team for winning the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup title, and praised the performance of his players, and the technical and administrative staff for their work during the championship.
“We lost a penalty kick, and another ball in the crossbar at the start of the first half,” Renard said after the 0-1 loss in the final on Sunday. “Bahrain players were waiting for us, but we received the first goal. This is football, if you do not score from the opportunities, you have to accept the possibility of accepting goals, and this was what really happened. We played and fought to score the equaliser, but we did not succeed.”
He added: “We tried to change the course of the match after Bahrain’s first goal, but the intermittent stopping of the match killed the game. The Bahraini team tried to break any escalation in performance by stopping the game. This was their strategy, and they succeeded in the end in getting what they wanted.”
Renard stressed that taking precedence over the score always gives the winning team the comfort and confidence to continue the match in the appropriate format, and said: “Bahrain scored first, and played the way they wanted. Our players tried to progress and score and provided the best, and they performed well. I congratulate them on it, but in the end they were unable to come back in the result, because the Bahraini team has strengthened its defences.”
Regarding the absence of Hassan and Mohamed Khubrani in the match, he said: “Hassan did not recover from the injury, as well as he told me he was in pain and was not ready for this match. The two players we gave great performances in this tournament. In the end, we can say we have opportunities ahead. We want to reach the 2022 Qatar World Cup.”
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