After a draw that tasted like defeat, the coach came out to face the media and explained his decisions against India. Christiansen himself made the ‘mea culpa’ and took responsibility for the result in this first duel of the Asian tour.
Responsibility for the result
“The result is my fault, I have bet on the young people. This is a learning experience. We have just started a generational change, but in the end we must give them confidence, teach them, let them learn from their mistakes and analyze this match well.”
Start the match with debutants
“It’s not easy, we knew it. Getting five new players to make their debut in a game wherever it is is difficult. We haven’t had time to work.”
Lack of good preparation
“Between trips, arrival of the players… we were missing players on the day minus two and on the day minus one you practically cannot train. What I am happy about is the minutes they have seen, they have shown themselves in their best way. There were others who already had one or two more games, but the responsibility and criticism is mine for making this decision. We have to learn. For everyone it has been an experience, in the first half we had a lot of disorder due to a new system.”
Goal from Omar Valencia and good minutes from Jair Modelo
“Jair (Modelo) and (Omar Valencia) Trucho entered the game well. I wanted to see them both in this game. Trucho scored a great goal and we have to congratulate him for it. In each one we have to correct them, I told some of them at halftime, others during the hydration break. We are in a generational change and it is normal in this process. When I arrived we had two horrible games in the Dominican Republic, but we have to help them and teach them.”
After this result, Panama will remain in India training this Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27, before leaving for Japan on Monday, the 28th, to face the two remaining friendly matches.
