The reactions of the coach of the Al Ain team, the Portuguese Leonardo Jardim, and his counterpart, the coach of Sharjah, the Romanian Olario Cosmin, varied to the scoreless draw that ended in the confrontation between them, the day before yesterday, at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, in the 11th round of the ADNOC Professional Football League.
While each coach expressed his satisfaction with the performance presented by his team’s players, they were divided on the final outcome, as the Al Ain Jardim coach indicated that “Al-Zaeem” lost two points in the draw, while Kuzmin considered the point positive in light of the circumstances his team went through. While the Mexican refereeing team, led by Cesar Ramos, received its share of criticism from the coaches, considering that it had made refereeing errors.
Al Ain coach, Portuguese Leonardo Jardim, said in the press conference after the match: “I think the match was equal and balanced between the two teams. In the last 20 minutes of the match, we tried harder and were closer to scoring the winning goal. Frankly, we feel upset about losing two points, and the players did not fall short and appeared strong.”
He added: “You know that I do not like to talk about refereeing, but there is a clear red card for the Sharjah team player. I congratulate our competitor for what he did in the match, and I also congratulate my players. During the match we had several opportunities. For example, Laba Kodjo had an opportunity, and the same for Sufyan. Rahimi, and two opportunities for Alejandro Caco, and we did not exploit them properly, and Sharjah’s defense line was able to stand in the face of these attacks.”
On the other hand, Sharjah coach, Romanian Olario Cosmin, said in the press conference: “As we expected, the match was difficult. The match was equal, and the point is considered positive, and it is a good draw, especially since some of the important elements in the squad were not on that day.”
He continued: “We had scored a goal and it was canceled due to offside, and a valid penalty kick was not awarded to us as we saw on the field. Our rival, Al Ain, controlled the course of the match in the last minutes.”
He concluded: “I am proud of the determination, dedication and performance provided by the team. Our stalker in the standings is Shabab Al-Ahly, a strong team with a group of distinguished players. For our part, we have ambitions in every match we play, and we must give everything we have on the field.”
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