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Balkan Boyz - Matchday 24 (Sz.4 - lvl4)
HEADLINE: Balkan Boyz after-match press conference
Balkan Boyz with manager –Ljepoje- at the helm held a post-match news conference at "Balkan Boyz Stadium" after they draw against Orchard Utd (3-4 on aggregate) in the T11 Cup Semi-finals this afternoon.
Q: First of all, we want to congratulate you for the 3rd place and the fact that the Club will receive it´s first CUP trophy - the 3rd place trophy! And how does it feel to know that of 128 teams that participated in the tournament, Balkan Boyz was one of the 4 teams that was honoured to play the semi-finals?
LJ: Well?! first, thank you for the kind words and the compliment. Second, this is probably the biggest "sucess story" and the fact that we managed to progress to the semi-finals tells that we are probably better then we thought from the start. You know, nobody could prophesy or predict that we would reach this far, including myself. As I mentioned earlier, we thought that we would reach the final-eight and that would be the end, but it didn´t. I think we should be proud of ourselves, of the things we accomplished and the fact that we showed our opposition that we aren´t just a "club" among them all, we are far better then "them", and this is a fact.
I mean, behind all of this lays hard work and responsibility, and the fact that we invested and got something in return is a proof of that. If you all look at the teams that managed to progress to the final-eight or the quarter-finals, they were all "investment" teams and some of them invested far more then us, but didn´t manage to pull it of or reach further in the CUP tournament.
Q: We all witnessed two teams, eager to win in the 2nd leg. And of course, an another side of the Balkan Boyz´s in the 2nd leg compared to the 1th leg. A Balkan Boyz that started the game "without fear or favour" against a Orchard Utd that seemed to defend their earlier 3 - 4 win in the 1th leg. How do you comment on that and what was your thoughts before the kickoff?
LJ: Yes, as you said we saw two "different" teams in the 2nd leg then in the 1th leg. This was probably because of the fact that we needed a "win" and they needed a draw or at least a +1 goal win you know. Also the fact that they had the pressure on their shoulders didn´t make it easier, even if they played at their own home turf. They began the 1th half with a quite defensive 4-5-1V formation against our quite offensive 4-2N-2W-2 formation, and then in the 2nd half they "copy and pasted" our formation since their manager realized that we created far more chances and had more possesion. But the game itself was quite equal and the chances to score was 50% vs 50%, which means that both teams could have score a goal, but at the same time conceive one. This happend in the 1th leg as well, they scored one and concieved one and so on. Also their GK, Pepe Reina was outstanding tonight and was declared as the "man-of-the-match" which tells us that we were far better and created far more opportunities. I mean, if it wasn´t for Reina´s saves, we could have been the ones that qualified to the finals and not them.
Q: One last question, how will you prepare yourselfs for next season and what are our final thought about the CUP final game between Dynamo SWAG vs Orchard Utd?
LJ: Well, we haven't decided yet how or in which ways we could improve the team or ourselfs since we are quite "good" at this stage. But I know that we will do our best in order to be "above and beyond" in comparison to the others, as we are this season. Of course we will try to reinforce our midfield and probably be in search for a new left back, but let's see and wait how it ends in the League and the Champions league. If we don´t reach the CL finals or end 2nd in the league then it is quite pointless to make improvements or invest in something since you could do "good" without any investments as the other 4 or 5* teams. Also, we have aborted the "Power training camp" for now since we got to many injuries the 1th day, but will probably resume at the end of the season.
When it comes to the final game between Dynamo SWAG vs Orchard Utd, it´s quite hard to predict any final result since both teams are good, despite the Q-advantage that Dynamo SWAG possess. It will be a good and tough game for both teams and I wish them both good luck, even if we're crossing our fingers and hoping that Dynamo SWAG will end and stand as CUP winners.
Over&Out!
Originally Posted by July Fourth
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