On October 29, Beijing time, in the second leg of the 1/4 final of the FA Cup, Shenhua drew 0-0 with Shenzhen and advanced to the top 4 with an aggregate score of 1-0. After the game, Shenhua acting coach Mao Yijun thanked the team for its tenacity and hard work in defense, and Shenzhen coach Carlos said that Shenzhen players were very depressed after the game.
Mao Yijun: It should be said that today's game was very hard, the opponent put a lot of pressure on us, our players have been defending, from the beginning of the game to the end, but the tenacity and hard work reflected in the defense, I am proud of them. We will continue to play well in the back games.
Q: Defending most of the time, wasn't it a pre-match anticipation?
Mao Yijun: The dominant idea is to counterattack under the premise of doing a good job of defense, but the opponent puts a lot of pressure on us, and the players do not do well at the moment of switching from defense to attack, so our possession rate is relatively low, and there is a lack of counterattack.
Carlos: Congratulations first, it was an incredible game for me, we played well but failed to qualify, the whole game, we played very well, the opponents didn't even get past the half, we had a fantastic chance 5-6, there is no doubt that the best player against the opponent is their goalkeeper. After the game, I praised the team in the dressing room and their attitude made me proud, although in the end we were out. Football is not a game where you can qualify if you play well, you have to score it. I still have to congratulate the players, this game, we have also improved.
Q: The team played very well, did not qualify, will it have an impact on the team?
Carlos: After the game, our players were very lost, we had all the data on the pitch, but we didn't score, which is also a normal phenomenon, the mentality of the players is relatively low. The player executed my technical and tactical arrangement very well, Shenhua hardly had any way, although the player was relatively lost, but I did not have anything to blame him as a coach, after all, the opponent's defenders and goalkeepers played too well.
Q: Comment on the game.
Carlos: Every game is definitely different, both teams are excellent, the situation in 2 games is different. What I expected was that we would take the initiative, the opponent would get the opportunity to counterattack, and we would give the opponent no chance by the speed of possession. I didn't expect that our performance was much better than the last one!