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Ribeiro grateful for Wuhan wake up call |
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 03:52 |
 Esfahan: Al Sadd coach Fabiano Ribeiro believes Monday's defeat to Wuhan Dilong gave his side the wake up call they needed ahead of their crunch AFC Futsal Club Championship semi-final match with Japanese champions Nagoya Oceans on Thursday.
Esfahan: Al Sadd coach Fabiano Ribeiro believes Monday's defeat to Wuhan Dilong gave his side the wake up call they needed ahead of their crunch AFC Futsal Club Championship semi-final match with Japanese champions Nagoya Oceans on Thursday.
With successive victories over Lebanese side Pro's Cafe, Australians NSW Thunder and Port Authority of Thailand securing Al Sadd's place in the semi-finals, the Qataris lost 11-6 to Wuhan Dilong of China in their final group game.But Ribeiro did not see the defeat as a blot on an otherwise faultless campaign, instead insisting it will prevent his players from becoming complacent as they look to claim a place in the final.
Always when you lose one match it is not good but we have looked at the good points and the bad points, said the Brazilian (pictured).
If you underestimate the opponent then you will lose the game and maybe because we had the three victories in the last three games this made the team think this way.The defeat will be a different point for us because the red light is blinking and the players are at attention.
That result means they will concentrate more for the next game.Xavier Rodrigo started on the bench against Wuhan with Ribeiro keen for the exciting forward to avoid picking up an unnecessary yellow card.His absence proved telling though and Ribeiro was forced to hand him fleeting appearances in the hope of snatching a result.The whole team did not work very well since the first second (against Wuhan), added Ribeiro.
We had one strategy for the game and if our team worked it well then we would not have needed Rodrigo.The problem was all of them were out of concentration.
We want to win every match but it makes no difference as the team must help (Rodrigo) and they did not help him.Finishing top of Group B meant Al Sadd avoided playing unbeaten Foolad Mahan Sepahan in the last four but Ribeiro stressed it does not matter who they face at any stage of the tournament, highlighting the fact they will need to be beat the best if they are to emerge as the historic first winners of the AFC Futsal Club Championship.We came here with two objectives and the first was to get to the semi-final, he said.
We did not expect to play against the weakest team in the semi-final and it will be a hard match against any team.
It makes no difference, against Nagoya it will be hard game and against Foolad it would also be a hard game so all we can do is play.
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