Autuori: Qatar must forget 4-1 Korea loss

GOAL – DOHA, Qatar coach Paulo Autuori says his players need to erase Friday’s 4-1 World Cup qualifying defeat to South Korea from their memories.

The West Asian side were humbled by the Taeguk Warriors on home turf, despite Yusuf Ahmed putting them ahead in the first half. Autuori admitted his side lost its way in the second 45 as they conceded three goals to suffer a heavy home defeat.

Qatar’s next match is a difficult trip away to Iran on Tuesday and Autuori urged his side to forget Friday’s  game quickly.

“I would like to say to my players to forget this match and focus on Iran and continue to work hard. In football you can be winner and you can be a loser,” he told reporters.

“We made a mistake for the second goal and that put us down mentally. We played a good short game, but we are suffering from having to play three games in such a short time.

“We now have to show that we are mentally strong after this defeat. We have lost three points, but we need to understand we are moving up and we are improving.

“We have to learn from our mistakes and we cannot be afraid. We need to fight and this is a big challenge for us.”

The Brazilian accepted responsibility for the defeat, refusing to blame any specific players.

“This is my responsibility. My job is to keep my players mentally fresh. I will not allow my players to go down,” he said.

“The heat was not the problem for us. We just played five days ago in similar circumstances. I don’t like excuses.

“I just want to tell my players that you played a good first half and that you made mistakes in the second. I can only talk about my players. I don’t want to talk about my opponents.

“They are a strong side. They are physically a strong side. They scored off two corner kicks. We made mistakes on those corner kicks. But there are positives. We played some good football.”