Oman coach stresses on need to improve efficiency

Oman were just unable to finish off the succession of opportunities that came their way overall in the match against Iraq.

Riyadh: Oman coach Paul Le Guen was left to rue his side’s forlorn finishing as they failed to convert a plethora of second-half chances against the Iraqis.

Le Guen’s men cancelled out Yaser Kasim’s 14th-minute opener with Ahmed Kano’s penalty six minutes after the half-time interval and they then proceeded to dominate the remainder of this Group B clash on Monday evening.

However, despite laying siege to Iraq goalkeeper Jilal Hachim’s goal, Oman were just unable to finish off the succession of opportunities that came their way overall.

“The Omani people can be proud of their players tonight (Monday), but we were still a little bit unlucky and we have to improve our efficiency,” the Frenchman said.

“We played quite well, with good passes and rhythm, and we crossed the ball a lot. I know that we should have scored more goals, but we will work on that before our forthcoming game (against Kuwait on Thursday night).

“I know that we weren’t efficient, but we were also unlucky because we had so many crosses and so many chances. We have to work on our efficiency, but also have a little bit more luck.

“We should have won tonight because we deserved to. I respect the Iraq team a lot, but -- when you look at the chances we created and the way we played -- we should have won.

“I don’t like to complain though as it’s not my style. I prefer to be confident and I’m full of confidence about the players we have here.

“We have to be ambitious. We’ve shown that we can compete at this tournament. We’re on the level, we’re not too far off in terms of the points in the group and I’m confident.”

Oman could have knocked Iraq out of this competition had they been able to conjure up a second strike and it’s clear that perilous predicament had a bearing on the second-half showing by Hakeem Shaker’s team.

“It wasn’t our desire to defend and our goal was to get the three points,” commented Shaker’s assistant Abdulkareem Salman Al Anni.

“We didn’t want to take risks and we needed a balance in the team. But, after Oman scored, they had a number of attacks and we tried to change our style of play offensively because Oman were trying to win. Our passing simply wasn’t good enough though during this period.”

alex@khaleejtimes.com