Our National Team faced Portugal in the play-off semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup European Qualifications. Crescent-Stars were defeated 3-1 and bid farewell to their World Cup dreams. National team coach Stefan Kuntz made statements after the match. Noting that sometimes luck is needed, Kuntz said he was proud of my second half team.
Here are those words…
Stefan Kuntz: In the first 20 minutes, we saw that our players did not believe in this win. I think we changed after the first goal, after that goal the traces that we could win the match came back.
We had a carelessness in the second goal. We actually worked hard, but we had to play close to the opponent. I reminded Latvia and Montenegro matches at halftime, I told them that we can come back again.
You find positions against them, ‘Portugal’, do you believe you can beat them? I asked. They all said ‘Yes’. I said, ‘Get out and show it on the field’.
I was proud of my second half team. We didn’t play ball against Portugal. But sometimes you need a little luck.
I said to Burak, ‘You should be proud because you are the captain of this team’. This team wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for their penalty against Latvia. Sometimes you just need luck.