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AFC Women's Champions League
After a campaign which had seen the Japanese side shine, the head coach was left dejected with their inability to cope with the strength of Naegohyang Women’s FC as they fell to a 1-0 defeat in the final at Suwon Sports Complex.
#AWCL | Final: Tokyo Verdy Beleza (JPN) 0-1 Naegohyang Women's FC (PRK)
“I extremely regret this result,” said Kusunose. “The players didn’t play well and in the end, we were overwhelmed by the power of the Naegohyang team.
“We wanted to play the Beleza way but we couldn’t. Naegohyang played well, like champions, they had the mentality. We will go back and we have a lot of room to improve and we will come back stronger.
“To lose the game means the opponents were better. They had better technique to finish. Although we made adjustments and tried many different ways, we couldn’t achieve our objectives. Nobody did wrong but we just couldn’t find the level that got us here.”
“We wanted to play the Beleza way but we couldn’t. Naegohyang played well, like champions, they had the mentality. We will go back and we have a lot of room to improve and we will come back stronger.
“To lose the game means the opponents were better. They had better technique to finish. Although we made adjustments and tried many different ways, we couldn’t achieve our objectives. Nobody did wrong but we just couldn’t find the level that got us here.”
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After an even first half and despite conceding a late first half goal to Kim Kyong Yong, there was nothing after the break which suggested Tokyo Verdy would find their way back.
They saw a lot of the ball but never got close to the equaliser with the inability to break Naegohyang down forcingKusunose to move teenage attacker Miharu Shinjo into midfield but even that did not work.
They saw a lot of the ball but never got close to the equaliser with the inability to break Naegohyang down forcingKusunose to move teenage attacker Miharu Shinjo into midfield but even that did not work.
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“On Shinjo, I put her back in midfield because we couldn’t play how we wanted in the second half because of the opponents’ pressure. I tried to put more energy into our midfield but it didn’t go well.
“Regardless of what happens, the mentality was important. We made mistakes we don’t usually make. We showed our weakness and soft points to the opponents, and they targeted that.”
“Regardless of what happens, the mentality was important. We made mistakes we don’t usually make. We showed our weakness and soft points to the opponents, and they targeted that.”
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