Following Omonia Aradippou’s 2-1 victory over Krasava ENY Ypsona, the coaches of both teams spoke at the press conference.
Yiannis Okkas broke down the match into two parts and emphasized that his team had the upper hand before gaining the numerical advantage, but was unable to control the game afterward. Nevertheless, as he said, it’s the three points that count, and he expressed optimism about what lies ahead.
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On the other hand, Ivan Stojković congratulated the opponent and noted that his team was affected by being down to 10 players but showed good sportsmanship.
Here are the statements in detail
Yiannis Okkas: “It was a game that, if I had to divide it into two parts, showed that when it was 11 against 11, we were more focused, and we were happy to take an early lead, which could have made the game much easier. However, just like in the first match, our lack of experience and focus in the final third prevented us from making things easier for ourselves. In the second half, when the opponent was down to 10 men, they controlled the game better than we did, but we were fortunate to secure the three points in the closing stages. After the equalizer, we played somewhat better. All’s well that ends well; we’ll conduct our self-assessment and analysis. We have a lot to fix, and the road ahead remains difficult. We’re focused on our goal and are optimistic that, game by game, we’ll succeed.”
As for whether the decision to fall back was his order: “It wasn’t my order to fall back. There’s no shame in admitting it—it was due to a lack of experience on the part of some of the young players who are just joining the men’s team. We’re aware of that. The good news is that we secured the three points. We’ll sit down and take a closer look at our mistakes, see how we can help them with our experience, but without… crushing their spirits now that they’re taking the plunge. We’ll all move forward together on this path—the experienced and the inexperienced alike.”
Ivan Stojković: “Congratulations to Omonia Aradippou on the victory. We started the game nervously and conceded an early goal, but then we responded well and improved our performance. The red card affected us, but I’m proud of my team because we showed fighting spirit. Despite playing with ten men, our performance in the second half was very good, and I don’t think we deserved to lose. I hope that in the future, soccer will give us back what we deserved to get today.”
