(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar's early goal through striker Akram Afif caused Senegal rethink mid-match, that allowed the African giants to rally for a win at the Under-20 World Cup, coach Joseph Koto said yesterday.
Goals by captain and defender Alhassane Sylla (76) and striker Moussa Kone (81) powered Senegal to a 2-1 win in their Group C clash at Waikato Stadium. Earlier Qatar had taken the lead through Afif (17) off a penalty.
"Today was difficult match for us because Qatar wanted to win this game as we did," Koto said. "Qatar's goal shook us. It shook us a great deal," Koto added.
"We immediately tried to react. We tried to equalise very fast. However, that was the wrong attitude. We needed to settle down and put the football on the ball for longer periods of time," he said. "We knew the game couldn't end as a draw. Before the match, they (Qatar) couldn't go through because they didn't have points. But they fought incredibly well in the match," Koto said.
Koto said he thought Qatar did not deserve the penalty. "With the penalty I think the ref couldn't see what really happened. He was probably not right in front of the action. I haven't seen the replays yet. From what I saw I don't believe there was a penalty. In today's football the forwards tend to dive a lot which I believe what happened," Koto said.
"In second half, it was very different. We shook the players at half time as we had a deep and intense conversation with the players. In the second half, I saw that we were losing a lot of balls on the left
side, so we made a few changes. This gave us the boost as we scored two quick goals," Koto said.
Koto added: "We want to congratulate Qatar. They played a lot of good football on the pitch. There was a lot of respect between the two teams. We are all brothers whether we are black, white or Arabs."
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