Forget the past, Anjos tells players
Saudi Arabia head coach Helio Anjos has told his players to consign their poor record against Japan to the history books as the Green Falcons take on…
HANOI Saudi Arabia head coach Helio Anjos has told his players to consign their poor record against Japan to the history books as the Green Falcons take on the defending champions in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.
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| Saudi Arabia head coach Helio Anjos |
The Japanese have downed Saudi Arabia in the final of the Asian Cup twice, a 1-0 win handing Japan their first title in Hiroshima in 1992 before a win by the same scoreline saw the trophy return to Tokyo in 2000.
As a result, Anjos is focusing his attention on wiping his players” minds of any potential inferiority complex ahead of Wednesday”s meeting at the My Dinh Stadium
SI have been trying to get it into the heads of the players that all the other results against Japan don”t matter and it is up to them to take their chance tomorrow, said Anjos.
SThis is our chance to go to the final and we want to take it.⬝
In addition to the two losses in the final, Japan handed the Saudis one of their most humiliating results against Asian opposition in recent times when Philippe Troussier”s team hammered them 4-1 in the group stage of the 2000 Asian Cup, with one of the four goals coming from current squad member Naohiro Takahara.
More recently, the two sides met in the qualification tournament for the 2007 tournament with Saleh Bashir giving the Saudis a narrow win in Jeddah before a Kazuaki Ganaha double following Marcus Tulio Tanaka”s opener gave Japan a more convincing 3-1 success in Sapporo.
Neither Anjos nor his counterpart Ivica Osim where in charge of their respective sides and while the Brazilian sees little difference in the quality of the two semi-finalists he does feel that the Saudis long trip from Jakarta – where they defeated Uzbekistan 2-1 in the quarters – could give Japan a slight edge.
STomorrow will be a very big game as both Japan and Saudi Arabia have similar schools of football and they are both powerhouses of Asian football,⬝ said the 49-year-old.
SIt will be a very interesting game between two strong teams tomorrow but we have had much less rest than Japan.
SThey were training when we were doing a 12-hour marathon journey from Jakarta.
SIt is a problem that we have had to travel when our opponent has had more time to rest and train but we will not use this as an excuse. Our players know exactly what they have to do.⬝
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