Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Singapore: JSW Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca was pleased with his side's performance as they progressed to the last four of the AFC Cup despite their lack of match practice following the end of their domestic season a few months ago.
The Indian champions held off successive waves of Tampines Rovers attacks as they hung on to a goalless draw away in the quarter-final second leg encounter and advanced on the back of their 1-0 first leg win in Bangalore last week.
The Spaniard, who took over from Ashley Westwood in the summer, was delighted to see his side work their socks off at Jalan Besar Stadium to earn a rematch against Malaysian giants Johor Darul Ta’zim in the semi-finals.
“We were prepared for a little war here tonight,” said Roca. “We had to defend and be compact, and try to achieve a good balance.
“For long periods in the game, we could not keep control, but during those short periods when we had the ball, we deserved to kill the game off and not have to wait for the final whistle.”
Despite the early success in extending Bengaluru’s best ever AFC Cup run, the former Barcelona assistant coach believed his team can still do more and hoped his players would respond at a higher level in their next competitive matches.
“The problem for us is we are not having any competitive local matches, so we will have to find out how they perform,” he said.
“We have to be positive and resolve to be better in some aspects of our game from what I saw tonight.”
Meanwhile, Tampines head coach Akbar Nawas was left wondering how his side had produced a third straight blank in all competitions despite dominating possession and play.
REPORT: Tampines Rovers 0-0 JSW Bengaluru FC (0-1 agg)
“If we create many chances but are not clinical in front of goal, what can we do?” he said. “The ball just didn’t want to go in.
“If we had more composure and concentration, we could have scored, especially in the last few minutes.”
He pointed out the tight marking his players had to deal with especially in the final third as they struggled to find a way past the Bengaluru defence.
“Bengaluru were very tenacious in closing down the space, which I felt was exactly the same way they played in the first leg,” he said.
Reflecting on Tampines’ AFC Cup campaign, Akbar felt it had laid the foundations for subsequent continental campaigns.
“We have gone this far in the AFC Cup, so our goal in future campaigns will be to at least advance from the group stage.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports