Al Ain: Kyrgyz Republic head coach Alexsandr Krestinin has done his homework and knows how to stop Korea Republic in their AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Group C clash at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Friday.



The White Falcons started brightly in their opener against China PR, taking a first-half lead but conceded an own goal at the start of the second half before losing the tie 2-1 but Krestinin remains confident of his team’s abilities against the two-time champions.

“We have had some time to prepare. My team are ready to face the Koreans tomorrow (Friday). It’s going to be a tough contest but an interesting one for sure. China is a different team than Korea, so there will surely be changes in the lineup tomorrow,” said the 40-year-old.







Kyrgyz Republic, debutants in the Continental showpiece, will be facing a strong Korea Republic side and the head coach said mood in the camp is upbeat despite losing the first match.

“The atmosphere in the camp is very good, my players are focused and we still have two games to play to qualify for the knockout round.”

Krestinin said his team will be ready to take on their opponents as they are familiar with Korea Republic’s style of play after having watched the Philippines game.

“We have analysed the way Philippines played against Korea as well as other games but we can’t play like that tomorrow. We have another way to play against them.We know the weakness of the Korean team as we’ve studied them well. There are no teams without weaknesses.”

Krestinin’s opposite number Paulo Bento was equally confident of taking the three points the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.

“There are two teams here with different points but we come into this match with an advantage as we won our opening game,” said Bento.

“We will try to do our best to qualify for the next phase of the competition but it will be a tough game against Kyrgyz Republic, who will try to defend as much as possible and deploy counter-attacking strategies.

“We will try to attack as much as possible to collect the three points.”

Bento’s side were made to sweat for their 1-0 win against the Philippines on Monday and the Portuguese is banking on experience to put his side through to the next round.

“Our idea is the same as the previous match, which is to control and win the game through our attacking style of play.

“Against Kyrgyz Republic, we must wait and see what they can do. They played differently in their friendly against Japan but were completely different against China.

“They know how to play a pressing game and this was apparent against China. So we will analyse their strategy before executing ours. We are prepared to adapt to our opponents, and during the game we should be able to play as well as we should.”


Source: the-afc.com