LAOS NEED TO MAINTAIN FOCUS THROUGHOUT

JAKARTA (13 Oct 2011) – The campaign has not turned out the way Laos had anticipated where after three matches in Group B, the 2009 semi-finalists have only picked up just one point.

They began their campaign with an uncharacteristic 3-2 loss to ten-man Myanmar while in the second game, they were really lucky to escape with a 2-2 draw when they scored the all-important equaliser right at the death.

And in their last game, they allowed the Philippines to steal to a 3-2 win with two late goals from Mark Hartmann.

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“It is my duty as the chief coach of Laos to accept responsibility for the losses the team suffered. Afterall, I’m the one who chose the starting eleven,” lamented Hans Schaller.

“In Europe, there is a famous saying which goes something like, if the team wins; it is the players who were responsible. But if the team loses, then is the coach who is responsible.”

What made the insipid performance of the Laos players a little hard to stomach is that in all three matches, they had played against ten men.

While admitting that it is sometimes harder to play against teams with ten men, Schaller admitted that the problem perhaps lie on the Laos players themselves.

“”I don’t know why, but at times, my players looked a bit confused. That’s why we let in the goals. We played well and had ball possession and chances, it was just the result that was disappointing,” he added.

“I don’t know how many chances we had. But that’s football, if you don’t score you draw or lose. It was just a matter of concentration and the boys are just not focused enough.”

Laos will play their fourth game in the group against Timor Leste later today before rounding things up with their last game against Vietnam on 17 November.