Qatar Coach Autuori Rues Early Mistakes in 21st Gulf Cup

Manama, January 11 (QNA) - After losing their third Group A match in the 2013 Gulf Cup Championship on Friday; Qatar coach Paolo Autuori rued the early mistakes that ultimately cost his side all three points. The Brazilian was also practical in recognizing that such matches are played on the smallest of details. "We had planned to keep our defense tight because we had had seen the Bahrainis play many times and we knew that they are technically very strong," he was quoted as saying on Qatar Football Association website. "We wanted to prevent them from scoring for as long as we could as we thought this would start making them feel more nervous". "But what actually happened was that referee made a bad call, which handed them the first goal. This put us under pressure and then I had to make some changes to try and get back into the match". Autuori lamented the referee for intervening with the match's result, he was quoted "the referee's verdict was wrong on the two penalties we should've had, particularly the second incident when the Bahraini defender had deliberately cleared the ball using his hand, that cost us our place in the semi-finals". He concluded by stating, "We now have to look forward, the gulf cup was an important opportunity for my players to grow as a team, we have important dates ahead of us and we cannot keep crying on spilt milk, we have to correct our mistakes as soon as possible in order to achieve the results we desire". (QNA)