Doha: DPR Korea will head into their Group B meeting with Saudi Arabia today at Grand Hamad Stadium in an upbeat frame of mind according to coach Yun Jong-su, despite losing their opening AFC U23 Championship clash with Japan.
Japan netted the only goal of the Group B opener after just five minutes on Wednesday as defender Naomichi Ueda turned home from a corner.
And despite being backed by a highly enthusiastic set of locally based supporters, DPR Korea were unable to find a response to add more pressure on the meeting with Saudi Arabia, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Thailand on Wednesday.
“Our players aren’t depressed even though we lost because we still have the second game,” said Yun.
“It’s important that the players do their best and we have to do more preparation before we play in the next game.
“We had a lot of supporters and I feel sorry for them because they shouted a lot.”
“So in the next game we have to do more so we can repay them for their support and the fans and the players have to come together in the next match.”
Saudi Arabia coach Adrie Koster was highly critical of his team’s performance in the draw with Thailand after conceding the equaliser with just six minutes remaining, and will expect more from his side today.
“We must forget that game very fast, we must learn from the mistakes we made and I think we can do much better than we showed,” he said.
“Against DPR Korea we have to do better and play differently than we did against Thailand, for sure.
“How will the team deal with disappointment? They will have to go and be better, it’s as simple as that, and that is what we will do in the next game.”
Meanwhile, Kiatisuk Senamuang’s Thailand will take on Japan in the other game in Group B earlier today at Grand Hamed Stadium looking to build on Wednesday’s draw with Saudi Arabia.
“Our actual goal for the game against Saudi Arabia was three points, but gaining one point is not so bad and we would like to give this point to our fans who have always been supporting us,” said former national team striker Kiatisuk.
“Our next improvement is how we will approach the goal and how we will get more goal scoring opportunities and get more points.”
Japan coach Makoto Teguramori was in upbeat fashion after seeing his side win against DPR Korea and he now has his sights firmly fixed on qualifying for the Olympic Games in Brazil later this year, which is on offer for the top three finishers in Doha.
“There were a lot of things we had to think about to get to this point, but now that we have been able to win, we have increased our level of confidence to be able to progress to the next round.”
“Our goal is to get to the final stage of the Rio Olympic Games and we want to do our best to get there,” he said.
The Peninsula
