Hero Intercontinental Cup 2019: Fajr Ibrahim blames fixture congestion, Usmon Toshev happy with win

The Syrian boss revealed that he is looking to deploy his best squad in his side's final game against India.

Two goals from Alisher Borotov and Komron Tursunov were enough for the Tajik side to cause an upset against a higher-ranked Syrian side in the ongoing Hero Intercontinental Cup at the EKA Arena on Wednesday in Ahmedabad.

Speaking to the media after the game Syrian boss Fajr Ibrahim said, “Congratulations to Tajikistan for scoring two goals and winning the game. For us, hitting the woodwork twice (thrice) was not enough. We created so many chances in the game but didn’t score a goal."

"We were fantastic in the first half but in the second half we were physically tired as we had only one day in between the game,” he added.

“Now, we have a good amount of time to prepare for India game which will most probably decide who will play in the final, although it depends on the result between India and North Korea,” Ibrahim further quipped.

The Syrian tactician also insisted he’ll be putting Syria's best squad on field against India and will try their best to win the game.

“Sometimes in football, we lose some game and we win some game but it is very important to keep motivating the players,” he opined when asked about the impact of loss on players against Tajikistan.

Tajikistan head coach Usmon Toshev seemed happy with the result as he said, “In the first half we were a bit relaxed but in the second half I gave the instructions to the team to be serious and start playing football.”

He was also accompanied by Hero of the match Rustom who kept his first clean sheet for the national team. “Frankly speaking, I wasn’t the Man of the match but actually the credit goes to the whole team for the victory,” the custodian said.

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When asked about what will be the message to the players by him after winning two games against a higher-ranked side and whether he liked the way the team performed he answered, “There were some parts that I liked and there were some that I didn’t like but we move on. Our main aim is to play the FIFA World cup qualifiers whether we win the Intercontinental Cup or not.”

Rustom was then asked what was going through his mind when Syria was on the course of attack in the first half when he answered, “I only had one thing in mind and that is not to concede a goal,” he signed off.