CAF CL: Kotoko coach Zachariassen explains why his team crashed out
Asante Kotoko were eliminated from the CAF Champions League after losing 3-0 to Etoile du Sahel in the second leg of their preliminary stages tie in Tunisia and their head Head coach Kjetil Zachariassen has attributed the heavy defeat to the inexperience of his team.
The Porcupines failed to take advantage of their 2-0 first leg victory on Sunday, Etoile du Sahel were too strong for them as they showed their class to qualify to the group stages with a 3-2 win on aggregate.
“We didn’t stick to the plan, we played a little strange football; sorry to say but we showed that we don’t have too much experience at this level. They showed they have more experience and they used it. A long list of things were not good enough” he said
Following their elimination from the CAF Champions League, Asante Kotoko have been relegated to the CAF Confederation Cup and will make the group stages if they win in the playoffs.
“The boys are ready to learn and bring it to the Confederation Cup. The list is long of the things that we didn’t do well. We just have to learn from this. A lot of lessons. Most of it all, the mental side of it. We’ve got to be prepared in another way. Its got to be a mental thing, we did a lot of things in a wrong way. We have to learn from it” he stressed
Kjetil Zachariassen also added that his team are not yet ready for the CAF Champions League and will go again in the CAF Confederation Cup.
“This is our level at the moment. We are confederation Cup and I think that’s the right level for us. We have to be realistic. We’ve got to be realistic because we have only worked together for three months” he added.
Asante Kotoko will know their opponent in the CAF Confederation Cup playoffs next month.
