At the post-match press conference after the Super League Round 7 match “Andijan” – OKMK (1:2), the head coach of the visiting team Mirjalol Kasimov shared his thoughts on the game and answered questions as follows.
— Of course, we expected an interesting match and we witnessed it. On one hand, playing in Andijan is not easy. On the other hand, it is easy. Because football is loved here and there are a lot of fans. I told the players about this, and they correctly fulfilled the task given to them. In the first half they moved well and, in the end, we saw the result of our work in the form of two goals.
As for the second half, playing to hold the score in the last 20–25 minutes still affects the team psychologically. In the end, it could have played against us. Football is played for 90 minutes. We are happy with the victory and we will prepare for the next match.
— Was the substitution of defender Shahzod Toirov at the end made to preserve the score?
— Of course. We had already analyzed the previous match. The “Andijan” team plays with long balls and has tall players. That’s why in the end we switched to playing with three central defenders. They started playing very close to our goal. That had an impact. Until the 20–25th minute of the second half we had good moments and we were also pressing.
— Why have the Japanese legionnaires in the team not been starting matches recently?
— We have two Japanese players. First, rotation. Ari (Arihiro Sentoku) used to play a lot. Second, we changed the system and played with two holding midfielders. You cannot play open football here. Now we are preparing for the next match. The schedule is very tight. Physical recovery is important. That’s why we are rotating players for now. Time will tell, — said Kasimov, according to the press service of “Andijan”.
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