Koch praises Esteghlal in week one&nbsp; <img border="0" src="http://www.persianleague.com/images/pic.gif" width="13" height="11">

PLDC - In the first week of the Iranian Professional League, Esteghlal faced Pas of Tehran and defeated them with the score of 3-1. In the post match interview, Ronald Koch (Esteghlal head coach) said, “This was not the first victory of Esteghlal with me as head coach, but it was the first Professional League one. I knew the match against Pas would be tough. 
Pas played a good game. They ran my boys down, but we managed to get the three points in the end.”

“I praise Esteghlal becuase they turned the tables around by winning a (1-0, half time score) lost match. I asked them to think about the weak points of Pas during the break and they followed my advice. This game was good publicity for us in the start of the league and I think the fans are also happy now.”

“Everyone played well in this game and even the substitutes were great. I knew that the results would be in our favor with my changes to the team. Although everyone has been great, my toughest decision was choosing the final 18 players and which 11 would play in the team, one day before the game.”

“No coach may allow himself to make judgments on the performance of the referees. These two jobs are quite different. Each must carry out his own duties. We must accept that the referees are under a lot of pressure to judge the matches and I will never allow myself to criticize the referees.”