Jadoulle relieved to hold off Region I
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Article summary
Kempen AMA coach Francis Jadoulle was happy his side held off a late surge from Region I AMA to win 2-1, while Slobodan Crnadak praised ten-man Savez Gradiška AMA after a 1-0 loss to finalists Castilla y León AMA.
Article top media content
Article body
Kempen AMA coach Francis Jadoulle was quick to praise the fighting spirit of Region I AMA after seeing his side hold off a late surge from the Irish outfit to win 2-1 and claim the bronze medal for finishing second in Group B. Section winners Castilla y León AMA maintained their perfect record ahead of Monday's UEFA Regions' Cup final with a 1-0 win against Savez Gradiška AMA, whose coach Slobodan Crnadak lauded his players' efforts following Darko Subašić's 20th-minute dismissal.
Francis Jadoulle, Kempen coach
We faced a strong Irish team during the first half, they played with all their heart. In the second half, we started to play better with short passes and won more battles. Our No9 [Serkan Kocaslan] managed to hold the ball up well and give excellent lay-offs which enabled us to stay in their half. Against Irish players, even when you're 2-0 up in the 90th minute, you are never sure to win as they fight until the last.
Gerry Smith, Region I coach
We had a good start, but missed our opportunities to take the lead. Then the situation was very difficult, going behind 2-0 against a technically better team than us. I would like to emphasise the excellent performance of the referee.
Javier Yepes, Castilla coach
At first, we were the dominant team but the Bosnian side fought hard and so the match became very tight and keenly contested. The key moment was when we took the lead as this really took the pressure off us. However, in the second half they started to put more pressure on us physically and played very well.
Slobodan Crnadak, Savez Gradiška
I think the quality of the football was very good – it was a very exciting game. The Spanish team are very good and were well prepared for this game. We played more defensively than we usually do. We're normally more attacking, but we tried to close them down. I believe that the players did the jobs as I asked them to do even though we played 70 minutes with ten men. I congratulated all of them for their best performance so far in the tournament. The result is fair, but it could have been different if the ball had gone the other side of the post in the last minute. The red card was the decisive moment, we could have also had a penalty but we were very brave.
