Score doesn’t satisfy Cerezo supremo

Wednesday, 02 March 2011 19:51

Osaka: Cerezo Osaka may have made the perfect start to their maiden AFC Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win over Arema Indonesia on Wednesday, but coach Levir Culpi was still left not completely satisfied.

Rodrigo Pimpao headed the Japanese side ahead after 14 minutes before the visitors drew level through Noh Alam Shah, who converted a 50th minute penalty.

However Pimpao, a recent signing at Cerezo, grabbed the winner in the 76th minute to seal the three points from the Group G clash.

However, while Culpi was delighted to start with a win, he felt his side could and should have scored more.

“It was our first international tournament and I am happy with this win,” he said. “This win has a significant meaning as this is now in our club history.

“But I am not satisfied with the score-line, we should have scored more. To get through the group stage, we may come up with a situation that involves goal difference.

“We had two different halves and couldn’t play our style football in the first half. If we could have played in the first half as we did in the second half, we would have scored more, but we were too erratic in passing and that was disappointing to me.”

The 58-year-old Cerezo boss admitted that his players looked mentally affected by playing their first game of the season on the international stage.

He added: “Because it was our first game of the season, our players didn’t have their game-play mentality, and because it was our first international game, they seemed to have been affected mentally.

“But our players recovered in the second half. They realised they have to show their brand of football, which led to them creating better scoring chances. That came as they changed their mental approach to the game.”

Despite the defeat, Arema manager Miroslav Janu praised the hard work from his players.

“It was very cold today but they made their best efforts with good discipline,” he said.

“When I look at the quality of Cerezo, I knew we would have limited occasions to have chances, maybe two to three times in a game.

“We actually created three to four good chances later in the game, but couldn’t produce a goal on those, especially the one from our captain Alam Shah. That was really a shame.

“The game is an opportunity to get experience, and although we lost today, that was a good experience for our players.

“I am sure we can play better in our next game against Jeonbuk Hyundai at home.”