Japan’s manager http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alberto-c4309 Zaccheroni mourns his first defeat since taking over
After having to wait 22 long years before travelling away to North Korea, Japan’s journey was marred with an ill-tempered 1-0 loss to Yun Jong-Su’s men. The Samurai Blue still qualified for the next round but defeat did not impress Zaccheroni, who suffered
his first loss as the Japan manager since taking over in 2010.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Japan-c2928 were made to work extremely hard in front of a jam packed stadium dominated by the North Korean supporters. People from across the border were also present in large numbers but unfortunately had to return empty handed.
On a dull and soggy pitch at Pyongyang, the Japanese experienced some rough tackles from the Chollima, depriving them from creating any clear opening inside the first 45 minutes.
Both teams played out a dull first half, much to the disappointment of the expectant crowd. The deadlock was finally broken in the second half when Pak Nam-Chol’s header went through the bucket hands of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shusaku-Nishikawa-c33438.
Despite pressing hard in the last 15 minutes, Japan weren’t able to find the equaliser and suffered a heart breaking 1-0 loss away from home.
This loss did not impress Zaccheroni a bit as he criticised physical approach adapted by the home side. The tactician reckoned that North Korea took advantage of their home strip and were lucky to also have the officials on their side.
While talking to reporters after the game on Saturday, the 58-year-old further mentioned,
“This was a game they had to win to save face in, and they threw in all they had. They had no worries about the next round, so they weren’t concerned if they earned yellow cards. Our goal was to qualify, and we did it brilliantly, but I am never happy to
lose.”
Japanese players also showed grievances at their team’s loss and vowed to bounce back strongly in the next round. They were apologetic towards Zaccheroni, who expected his team to put up a match winning performance on their historic trip to North Korea.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shinji-Okazaki-c33366, concluded by commenting:
“Both here and in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tajikistan-c3018 there were long moments when we could not play our football ... We need to improve.”
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