Iran head coach Amin Mani had a lot of positive thoughts to share during the press conference held after the match.
“I am happy to be here in the United Arab Emirates and in this tournament that the AFC organised,” he said.
“Football in Asia is constantly evolving, helping disabled people feel part of society and now they have their own tournaments and championships to look forward to.”
Amin advised Asian nations to continue holding such tournaments every year and to establish them as a globally recognised event in its own right.
“It has also delighted me that so many nations have participated in this year’s tournament for 16 years ago the teams were weak and tournaments and events were almost nonexistent,” he said.
However, Amin feels that is not the case now as tournaments for the disabled have become more advanced, although more work and time still needs to be invested in this project to improve its quality.
“We are here in support of football tournaments for the disabled as well as helping other teams to gain experience,” he said.
“There’s a big difference between Korea’s team today and the one we met last year in Holland,” he added.
Korea coach Cho Je-duck has highlighted the difficulties his team faced and the areas needing improvement for future tournaments.
“The tournaments schedule proved to be hectic and tiring, playing every day is too stressful for all the players, especially because of their disability,” he said.
“Because of this we didn’t have time for any training sessions between matches to help our players improve and be more prepared for the next one.”
However, the experience has helped Cho analyse the performance of strong teams like Iran and he has promised to come back with better performance.
“Iran are a very strong team, however, we managed to pull through,” he said.
“We have analysed certain weaknesses that have showed up during the course of the tournament and therefore we will come back next time with better results.”
