Branko: Difficult match against the title holder and I understand the audience’s demands

Branko Ivanković the coach of the Omani team press conference was held in Al Siyab hall in Manawi Basha hotel at 2:15 PM prior to Oman and Bahrain game in the semifinals of the Arabian Gulf 25 championship.
Branko mentioned: “I welcome everyone, 7 points out of a difficult group, congratulations to Iraq on hosting this version and I send my regards to the audience that cheered everyone, I haven’t seen such audience in any championship before, the match is difficult against the stable title holder which aims to preserve the title. Each game has its circumstances, a difficult match awaiting us and our goal is to win regardless of our opponent. I have met the players and gave them some advises, and our goal is to reach to the finals despite the challenges, I trust the players and their efforts.”

Salah Al Yahyai Oman player said: “We are ready for the match, Bahrain has good players and we are aiming to win, the team with less errors will win, I hope that our audience will make it to the match to support us and I thank the Iraqi audience for their support.”

Branko proceeded: “Bahrain is a strong team, stable since a while, won against Qatar with its big names and against Emirates, I don’t know the reason behind the audience disappointments. We faced the hosting team with a higher ranking, and against Saudi Arabia we needed one point and we aimed for the win and made it happened, everyone looked at us differently, in general we did good and now we have to qualify, I am confident with the players, I have two injured players and Jumaa won’t participate but this is not an excuse.”
He added: “Small touches ends difficult games; we will work in obtaining the title and Salah is the best player.”
Branko also said: “Bahrain is the title holder and we are ready for it, each game has its own circumstances, 4 teams didn’t qualify and that’s an honor to us, everyone is respecting us. I understand the audience demands to show a high performance and we are focusing on the result; the opponent determines the playing tactics.
He concluded: “Bahrain is the title holder in the last version, the Arabian Cup match was difficult, we were better and complete and we played strong matches.”