| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam coach Kwon Oh Son has expressed his disappointment at losing 3-0 to Nepal in the AFC Solidarity Cup final group game at the Sarawak Stadium in Kuching, Malaysia on Tuesday.
The national team have been knocked off top spot in Group ‘A’ finishing as runners-up with three points while Nepal finished as group winners with four points.
The coach has also warned the players and coaching staff not to be overconfident after they were brought back to earth having started their campaign with a 4-0 rout against Timor Leste.
“It’s very disappointing that we lost 3-0 and it’s important for the players and the coaching staff that we shouldn’t be overconfident after our 4-0 win against Timor Leste,” Kwon told AFC.
The coach, who took over the senior side since nearly guiding them into the AFF (Asean Football Federation) tournament proper in 2012, hoped that they could learn from the defeat.
“We have to learn from this and we will try to do our best on the training ground to learn from our mistakes and not be overconfident,” the South Korean said.
Kwon shuffled his defence bringing on Fakharazzi and Hairol Azaman in place of the unavailable Rosmin Kamis and Mohd Shafie bin Haji Mohd Effendy.
Brunei Darussalam’s Helmi Zambin vie for the ball with Nepal’s Bharat Khawas during the AFC Solidarity Cup match.
“Our defensive line suffered a lot of setbacks and some of them were playing with pain for the 90 minutes.
“We made some changes in defence and they didn’t do so well and that’s why Nepal were able to go up two goals. We need to fix that before the semi-finals,” the coach said.
Kwon had earlier hinted that he will not be fielding a full strength squad with several of his players having fitness doubts since playing on a waterlogged pitch in their group opener.
Azwan Ali, who netted twice in the Timor Leste drubbing, was the other notable absentee in the Nepal game.
“Several of our players sustained ankle injuries and we require recovery time. As we are already in the semi-final, we do not want to take risks with them,” Kwon said.
“We want 100 per cent recovery of every player. So my first priority will be protecting the players,” concluded the South Korean.
The Wasps will face Macau this Saturday for a place in the AFC Solidarity Cup final.
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