Coach John Kosmina has reiterated to his charges the importance of continuing to focus on what has led to them securing two wins from their opening two ACL matches.
On the eve of the Reds- departure for South Korea for their match against the Pohang Steelers on April 3, Adelaide United Coach John Kosmina has reiterated to his charges the importance of continuing to focus on the process which has led to them securing two wins from their opening two matches in the AFC Champions League.
Kosmina-s comments come as somewhat of a final instruction to his players as he prepares to head to Canberra, not Pohang with the team, to start undertaking his ‘A- Coaching Licence.
The situation of Kosmina not going with the team to South Korea may seem strange, but he is confident that the plans and structures are in place, and it was now up to the players to deliver it on the field and go in with a frame of mind that they can come out in front on the scoreboard.
“It comes down to how they approach the game mentally,” Kosmina said of how he saw his side-s chances against the Steelers.
“Like I said this morning when they went into practising shape they did it pretty well, they were organised and kept it tight, any mistakes we fixed up, and we created some goal scoring opportunities so you-ve got to go into the game thinking you-re going to get a result.”
“You can-t go in there just saying we-re going to sit back and soak it up and maybe get something out of it. There has been enough success and enough good things out of the last two games where you could say we-re a good football side, but it has still got to be about the structure and maintaining discipline.”
“You can-t just throw caution to the wind, you-ve got to keep your shape.”
In a competition as tough as the AFC Champions League, a draw away from home is often seen as a respectable result. Kosmina agrees, although he believes if the Reds put their impetus on the way they go about it during the 90 minutes, the result will generally take care of itself.
“Away from home you-d be happy with it (a draw) but if you can get it a win it-s better. You go there to aim to get a result but you-ve got to think about how you go about getting your result,” Kosmina said.
“You go through the process, maintain structure and then do what we can do when we-ve got the ball and hopefully it can work out.”
Remarkably, Adelaide United is yet to taste defeat to Pohang in their four previous meetings, which came in the 2008 and 2010 Group Stages.
The Reds have recorded three wins and a draw against the Steelers and while history will mean little when the teams run out on Tuesday night, Kosmina knows Pohang will be determined to reverse that trend and also rebound after being beaten at home by Bunyodkor in Match Day 2 less than a fortnight ago.
“That (United-s record against Pohang) is probably not a good thing. We-d never beaten Gamba and all of a sudden we did so from that perspective you-ve just got to go into this game switched on, prepared to do what you-ve got to do in terms of the game plan and how we want to go about our business, and if they-re better than us on the night so be it,” Kosmina said.
Similarly to the Reds- trip to Tashkent, a squad of 16 will head to Pohang, Kosmina revealing Cassio, Iain Fyfe and Evan Kostopoulos have been included in the travelling party at the expense of Antony Golec, Cameron Watson and Jacob Melling.
The Reds will arrive in Pohang on Sunday morning.
