It’s a disappointing result for Gambia, coach Put

Gambia Coach Paul Put looks on as Namibia trash Scorpions hopes

Cafonline - Following his side’s 1-0 defeat at Namibia on 2012 AFCON m qualifiers match-day five, Gambia coach Paul Put expressed his disappointment with the result.’

Put told Cafonline.com that he believes his side did not reach their full potential on the day which was detrimental to their campaign.

Cafonline.com:   What went wrong today?

Paul Put:  First of all I’m so disappointed with the result and how the team played today. We needed to win this match but we couldn't do it and now our destiny is not in our hands anymore. Secondly, I believe my players today did not reach their levels of potential and this cost us the game. We should have played better than this.

Cafonline.com:  Do you think you created enough chances today?

Paul Put:    Yes, I think we have our chances, half chances and should have capitalised on them but like I said the players did not reach their capable level today and that was not good at all.

Cafonline.com: What did you expect from the players?

Paul Put:  I expected my players to control about three quarters of the match, but we kept losing out on counter-attacks and because we were not taking our chances in the game, we lost the plot.

Cafonline.com: Why did you think they played the way they did today?

Paul Put:  I believe it was due to our preparations, not having played enough friendly matches. Also the fact that some players arrived late to join the team and there was no enough time to recuperate. But these are football issues and we have to live with them. I don’t want to make excuses.

Cafonline.com: Do you still have a chance of making the finals?

Paul Put:   Depending on how CAF rules in the Namibia-Burkina Faso case, and how we do at home against Burkina Faso, we might have a chance if it all goes in our favour.  We still have a dream and it lives on until the final day, we have one more game and that counts a lot for us.

Cafonline.com: How would you describe the way your team has fared so far in the qualifiers?

Paul Put:  We have quality players and they have been great over the last year in our qualifiers, but today it all just did not happen for us. But sometimes these things happen in football we have to dust ourselves up and go on and prepare for the next game which is important for us too against Burkina Faso. We cannot lose track of the goal but we are aware of the situation and we will do whatever is possible from our part.