(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) AFC Asian Cup debutants Yemen were handed a five-goal drubbing by experienced Iran in Group D match. But Yemen coach Jan Kocian has sought time for his young side, ranked 135 in the world, to showcase their real talent and not to judge them after a poor show against No. 29 team.
"We are a young side. We need some time. We can play much better than this," he said after the match in Abu Dhabi.
Yemen being at this stage is a miracle of sorts for the war-torn country. Following the 2015 crisis, Yemen has poor infrastructure for sports and most of the players don't have big match experience.
"We had problem preparing for this tournament. We didn't have had many friendly games to prepare. Many players don't get to play bigger games in Yemen. They just had the two-month preparation," Kocian said.
The coach noted that Yemen had chances in first 10 minutes but couldn't convert and didn't had the experience to return into the game after Iran scored three quick goals inside 25 minutes.
"We play in a compact way. If you play an open match against Iran, you have no chance. We were compact, defensive and this is how we play. But the players haven't played at such high levels before. Whatever games we had before this weren't enough. This is a problem for the team."
Kocian is confident that Yemen will put a better show against Iraq and Vietnam.
"We will analyse this performance. We can play better than this. We will give better presentation in next games."
Yemen next play Iraq at Sharjah Stadium on Saturday.
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