Branco: I have confidence in the players and I try to be calm for them
After the end of the match between Saudi Arabia and Oman in the third and final stage of the first group, which was hosted by the Olympic Port Stadium at six in the evening, Iraq time, and ended with Oman’s victory over Saudi Arabia with two goals to one, a press conference was held for Oman’s Croatian national team coach Branko Ivankovic, who commented on the match, saying: “I congratulate my team, Saudi Arabia is a very strong team, an outstanding team, the period of preparation is short, but I thank the players for their fight; qualifying is a good achievement; the players’ desire resulted in victory.”
Hareb Al-Saadi, man of the match, said: “We congratulate ourselves for winning and qualifying.” Three matches in six days is difficult. Today we celebrate, then we think about the semi-finals, and I congratulate the Omani people.
Branko continued: “Ahmed Al Matrooshi played under pressure against a strong team and received a blow to his foot, and in the end we achieved what was required.” Four teams have a chance to qualify; even the UAE may qualify.
Hareb Al-Saadi said: “After three meetings, the Gulf tournament is very difficult; it depends more on psychology than technique.” We focused on skipping the group stage, and now we are thinking of reaching the final. We have been working with the coach for two years. We ran for the tournament and set a first goal by skipping the group stage, and we achieved the first goal.
And Branko added: “I have confidence in the players.” We spent a long time together implementing the plans, and each match has a special situation. Personally, I try as much as possible to be calm in order to keep the players calm. result.