Doha, January 13 (QNA) - Serbian Aleksandar Jankovic, China national football team coach said that the one point that his team earned following their match against Tajikistan is a gain, relative to the difficulty of initial matches, in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023.
In a post-match press conference, the coach said that his team should have won given the goal they scored, only for it to be later overturned following a VAR review. Jankovic said that the goal's cancelation did not bother him, due to his team players picking up their performance in the second half of the match and took the lead.
The coach stated that team Tajikistan got the advantage on the field, thanks to team China facing many challenges during the first half of the match due to their incorrect passes and poor positioning in many instances, rendering them unable to meet expectations.
Jankovic stressed the need to rectify mistakes and restore the players' rapid performance in the next match in order to qualify for the next stage. He noted that Group A consists of tough competitors, including the defending champion and the Lebanese team, one of the strongest, reaffirming the need for Team China to prepare well for the upcoming matches.
The coach revealed that he had made some adjustments to the lineup of players in order to present a distinguished match against their Lebanese counterpart, adding that team China has some outstanding players that were off the field in the match against Tajikistan, something that will be changed in the upcoming matches. (QNA)