Al-Jabri After Berkane Draw: "More Focus Would Have Secured Second Goal and Victory"

Mehdi Al-Jabri, coach of Ittihad Yaacoub El Mansour, stated that his team played a difficult match against RS Berkane, one of the leading contenders for the professional league title. He indicated that small details prevented them from securing a victory.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Al-Jabri said: "Regarding the match, we knew it would be tough against a strong team competing for the league. We started well in the first half and managed to score a goal. We then tried to deal with their defensive block and rely on counter-attacks."

He added: "In the first half, we had chances through which we could have scored the second goal, which would have made the match easier for us, but it didn't happen."

Al-Jabri continued: "In the second half, we initially tried to close down spaces for RS Berkane and press them in their areas, then we dropped back to play on the counter-attack. But honestly, we didn't deal with them well. If we had shown more focus, we would have been able to score the second goal and seal the win."

Al-Jabri also elaborated on some refereeing incidents during the game, stating: "In a way, it seems the referee plays at a fast pace and doesn't stop much for fouls. Consequently, we saw that the foul that occurred was not clearly a foul from the outset, according to our technical view as a team. We are not referees or specialists in arbitration, but from our perspective, there was no foul at all."

He continued: "This is what made us protest, because fouls are not limited to penalties or goals; even simple fouls inside or near the penalty box, or even corner kicks, can change the course of the match."

He concluded his remarks by saying: "Therefore, we must be more technically focused inside the penalty area, because if we had been more precise, we could have overcome these details and secured the win for ourselves."