Katanec: Congratulations to Bahrain; we played a great match

Iraq coach Katanec said, after losing to Bahrain by penalty shootouts in the Gulf Cup 24 semi-final, that his team presented a big match and he congratulated the Bahrain national team for qualifying for the finals.

He added: “We played in an open manner. We managed to reach the Bahrain goal repeatedly. We scored two goals from it, but in return we gave two gifts to the Bahraini team when we failed to control the defense area well, especially in the second goal which came from a pass 70 meters behind the lines.”

Katanec confirmed his pride for his players and what they presented in the match: “Our players made an effort and I thank them. I am proud of their performance. Playing in a big number of matches affected the players physically, as we played six games within 20 days, and the team also suffered several injuries.”

Regarding whether there was a change in the plan of how they played against Bahrain, Katanec said: “There were no problems with the plan. We played well, and the victory of Bahrain does not mean anything because they won only with penalty shootout. Our problem is that our players and our fans exaggerated celebrations at the beginning. When the result was not positive, they exaggerated the reaction. Football must accept victory and accept loss. The important thing is that the team presented itself well.”

He further commented: “It is true that we lost the semi-final match against Bahrain, but we won young players who have proven themselves and their readiness to play against big teams, and this is an important step in the way of development.”

He concluded: “I am satisfied with the performance of the players. Our team played the first game without the police club players and proved its worth against Qatar, unlike the Saudi team who lost because of the absence of Al Hilal players. Our results continued to be good until we lost this match, and this is football.”