AFC Champions League 2014
Group Stage week 5
Tue, 15 April, 2014 19:00 kickoff (45-minute halves)
International Stadium Yokohama (Kanagawa, Japan)

Yokohama F. Marinos　2-1（0-1 in first half、2-0　in second half）over　Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Victory

Scores
0-1　7th min　HAN KYO WON（Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors）
1-1　64th min　SAITO Manabu（Yokohama F. Marinos）
2-1　65th min　SAITO Manabu （Yokohama F. Marinos）

Comments from Head Coaches

HIGUCHI Yasuhiro, head coach, Yokohama F. Marinos 

First off, we would like to celebrate that we had the revenge (on our opponents) at home, showed our pride and will and true potentials in the second half, and are able to play with our qualifying through the group stage in our final group stage game.
As for the game, we entered it in shaky way in the first 15 minutes, not being able to try to get the ball hard and take the second balls. But afterwards, we felt that the opponents got a little passive and the duration of our ball possession increased, and then we were finally able to do what we wanted to do.
I told our players during halftime that we would change our system a little, putting two strikers up front and moving Nakamachi Kosuke up a little to make the defensive midfielding position with one player, so we would put more pressure in the front. And our players adjusted to the instruction and played well enough. That was the 45 minutes of the second half that we could capitalize on for our upcoming games. But we still have a lot of issues that we will need to work on. Although we will have to play games with short rests, we are going to gradually fix those issues.

Q: Talk about Saito Manabu, who scored two goals, and the reason why you did not play him for the whole game.
First of all, about his goals, he fired the first one from an unexpected location and was great, and he didn't miss the chance on the second goal. As far as his scoring, I would like to give him credits for giving us the chance to win the game. But overall, there were occasions that he tried to create some chances but stumbled, and also he seemed so exhausted before the scoring scene. I was thinking he would not last for the entire 90 minutes, but then he scored the goal. And then, when we got up 2-1, we did not want to have holes when we shifted from offense to defense or vice versa, and he looked so exhausted, I substituted him.

Q: You are still in fourth place and must win in your next match away. How will you prepare your team for the game?
It's not easy to play consecutively, and we heard that Jeonbuk Hyundai have had to play a lot of games consecutively as well in April. Maybe beause of that, they seemed to lose their momentum in the second half. Considering those things, we will have to be careful about making turnovers. However, back in the J. League season, we have struggled to post wins currently. So our next match against Kashiwa will be an important one and these two games that we have to play consecutively will be tough on us. Yet mentally, I think today's win will work positively for us. In the decisive game against Guangzhou Evergrande, we will have to prepare well, making sure that we have to see the players' conditions and who can move and run well enough.

Q: For the decisive Guangzhou Evergrande game, how do you want to play in it?
First, we know it's going to be a difficult game. It will be a close game that each goal is crucial. But we cannot play too cautiously and passively like we played our first 15 minutes of today's game, otherwise it's going to give the opponents the momentum. With that being said, we will have to be aware of how we enter the game for the first 15 minutes, regrouping ourselves once more. I think that set plays could be big points as well, so we will work on them as we face Guanzhou Evergrande.

CHOI KANG HEE, head coach（Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors）

It was a disappointing game for us. Our players tried to put up their best while they had fatigue. But we lost our concentration in the end and ended up being the losers as the result. But it's not over yet, and we have a home game left. All the four teams have the chances to get through the group stage. We will work on recovering from the fatigue and prepare for our final home game.

Q: Weren't you believing that your side would take the win until the game was tied at 1 all?
We had a concentration issue. Especially if you look at our schedule, we've played two games in a week. So as to our physiques, we lost our physical momentum in the second half and it was the part of the reasons why we allowed the goals we gave up. But when we get back in Korea, we will have to play the same schedule. We will play our legaue game on Saturday, and then play our final group league game of the ACL with two-day's rest. So we will have to avoid how we played today. We will have to get prepared in order to do so.

Q: After you gave up a 1-2 lead to the opponents, did you change anything?
After we allowed the lead, we had to go offensively, so I asked our players that change. But the opponents played well defensively, including their pressing, and we failed to creat chances as much as we wouldn want.