AFC Champions League 2014
Group Stage Week 4
Wed, 2 April, 2014 19:30 kickoff (45-minute halves)
International Stadium Yokohama (Kanagawa, Japan)

Yokohama F. Marinos 3-2 (2-1 in first half, 1-1 in second half) over Melbourne Victory (Australia)

Scores
0-1 6th min James Troisi (Melbourne Victory
1-1 24th min Ito Sho (Yokohama F. Marinos)
2-1 26th min Nakamachi Kosuke (Yokohama F. Marinos)
3-1 89th min Hyodo Shingo (Yokohama F. Marinos)
3-2 90+2nd min James Jeggo (Melbourne Victory)

Coaches' comments

Higuchi Yasuhiro (Yokohama F. Marinos)

First of all, we are happy to give our first win in Asia to our fans and supporters who came to watch us play in this rain. As for the game, from the experience we already took on them at away, we focused on taking care of the side attacks by Melbourne defensively. Offensively, we wanted to get the ball and relay to our short counter attacks. Also, we wanted to boldly put the ball inside the box more frequently, not just keeping the ball. But the last goal we gave up was unnecessary. In those last-minutes situations, you want to make sure keeping the ball firmly until the game is over, but we couldn't do it and that was definitely something we have to reflect on.

Q: In order to qualify through the group stage, you've got to be aware of the goal differences. It seemed that your team focused on keeping the ball more than going for the fourth goal after giving up the second goal to the opponents although you have a chance to do it.

I didn't have the intention to instruct our players to keep it. I wanted our attackers to attack the goal until the final whistle. We talked during halftime that it would come down to the goal differences and overall goals if we'd have the same points, but maybe we didn't convey that message to our players well enough. But towards the end of the game, we certainly showed that we needed to stick with going for the three points.

Q: How do you consider what this first win means to your team and how much this win will affect your team's performance in the reminder of the tournament?

We only ended up getting one point in our previous three games. Obviously, I think that we'll need to take all the next three games in order to qualify through this group league. Fortunately, we'll be able to play at home for the next game, so because of the three points, that home game won't be a throwaway one and we'll have something to fight for. So this means so much to us.

Q: It feels like your team used a lot more side changes today. You think your team played as planned on that part?

We thought it was effective when we faced them in our first matchup. Also, we played against Kashima Antlers in the league and we became even more aggressive offensively in it as the team. But actually we still have issues in the last one third of a game, where we aren't so bold. So we talked in our meeting that we should kick the ball in more dynamic ways, and it paid off effectively for us.

Kevin Muscat (Melbourne Victory)

It's certainly disappointing. We wanted to go home with points and it's frustrating that we couldn't do that. But I'm proud of how our team played. We are a very young team, and we are so proud of having played such a great team like Yokohama F. Marinos. We are disappointed about the result, but overall I think we played a very good game.

Q: What do you think were the best things your team did in this game?

More than individuals' particular plays, I think our young players played hard overall. It's great we scored two goals, but it's disappointing that we didn't get a result we wanted. Overall, we played well, but just came up short. But since our young players performed well, I'm so proud of every one of our players.

Q: It appears that your team could not score the second goal in the first half and it ended up costing the game.

Yes, you are right about that and we feel like we could have done better there. But we certainly learned so many things and our players gained a lot of confidence through this game.

Q: What do you think of a chance for your side to qualify through the group stage?

Because Jeonbuk Hyundai won, the point gaps have become bigger. But we've been keeping our good performance throughout this tournament. Unfortunately, we didn't come up with a positive result today, but we believe we can still come back in the remaining games.