January 30 – Srecko Katanec has defended his reign as Uzbekistan manager and his team’s 2-1 victory against Thailand that ensured passage to the last eight of the Asian Cup after receiving criticism from local media. He called on Uzbeks to “be happy and normal”.
The Uzbeks encountered few problems in their round-of-sixteen clash with Thailand, but quizzed by the Uzbek media at a news conference the Slovenian, who took charge of the Central Asians in 2021, lost his patience. Agitated, he demanded a sense of realism from his detractors.
“You are not satisfied, I have a feeling that you are not happy with our win,” said Katanec.
“You want to put a striker in place of those three up front, they did a great job. You know, I know the mentality of Uzbek people and people around football. I don’t know where that comes from – be normal because we are not the world’s best team, be happy.”
“I have a feeling that I am the coach of Brazil or Argentina – it is good but let’s be a bit more normal.”
The Uzbek manager highlighted that his squad have had their fair share of struggles and obstacles since they arrived in Doha for the tournament. That has left the Slovenian constantly tweaking his first XI and tinkering with the balance of the side.
“You don’t know some circumstances – from the beginning when we arrived we had problems with illness,” explained Katanec.
“We had viruses, today we missed Shukurov because he was ill. We had many injuries, but we performed well. The reserve players did well. I am really satisfied and why would we not be able to surprise Qatar?”
On home soil, the defending champions might be marginal favourites against the Central Asians in their quarter-final tie. Katanec watched The Maroons’ victory over Palestine and believes that striking the right balance will serve his team against the hosts.
He explained: “It is important what the players feel – are they comfortable playing three, four or five at the back? They are important, not me. I can say that we will play modern football, let’s start with the build-up play from the back but does that work? I said to my players before this game as well – I am not good at speeches – that they have to be satisfied with their performance, they have to do the maximum. Winning or losing is not important – they have to be satisfied.”
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