Written by: Muhammad Yazid
Home United coach Lee Lim Saeng was a happy man after his side confirmed their semi-finals spot following the 2-1 win over Loyola Meralco Sparks in the quarter-finals second-leg of the RHB Singapore Cup.
On aggregate, the Protectors won the Philippines side 4-1, and Lee was equally happy with the fact that Home played well in both encounters.
“I should thank all my players for the brilliant performance,” he said.
“Credits should rightfully go to them for beating Loyola twice, but I think we are not done yet.
“We are looking forward to the semi-finals and also have the League Cup kicking off next week.
“The semi-finals is going to be a very tough one, either against Brunei DPMM or Albirex Niigata (S). We have to keep that in mind and be very focused.”
The former South Korean International then revealed a tactic which he implemented that evening, and the factor which awarded his side the victory.
“I told my boys to grab the first goal, and then connect with the ball a lot by passing it all around the pitch,” he expressed.
“Then I rotated my players’ positions and let the opponents chase us a lot, and then they (opponents) became tired.
“Whichever team which makes the most mistakes suffer. We have made mistakes before, but tonight, our players made lesser mistakes than the opponents and that gave us the win.
“ We totally enjoyed the game.”
His counterpart, Joseph Santos admitted that Loyola did not deserve anything out of the two legs, and praised his opponents.
“It was very difficult to play against them,” he mentioned.
“We were trying to chase goals against an experienced, organised and top-quality team and they started punishing us one by one when we overdid our chances.
“We tried to keep possession but they were relatively direct had the shortest route to goal. Fluidity, combinations and the way they rotated players was too good in Home.”
“It was getting harder and harder. Our game plan was to get a goal and look for chances when they look sloppy, and once it was 2-0 (4-0) down, it was game over.”
Joseph however admitted that his side would have maybe stood a chance if his side managed to execute the game plan successfully.
“We missed so many chances; if we had scored the first goal, it would have been a different story,” he concluded.