Al – Akhbar Newspaper

The Lebanese football team returned to Beirut after the end of their Asian tour in the UAE and returned with coach Muntiniger Miodrag Radolovic. He spent hours in Beirut before leaving for a rest period of about two weeks. He is the first football player wanted in the Lebanese public and who monitors social media during the participation of Lebanon in Asia, he will be able to see the number of criticisms addressed to the coach, even by Lebanese sports journalists and strangers, and followers. A great dissatisfaction with the anticipated exits, the results and the image in which the team appeared. Many questions arose at Radu after the experience of the Asian Cup. News The coach met Lebanon after his return from the Asian Championship and questioned him on the various points that occupied the Lebanese public opinion and on the reasons why the team had failed in the Asian Championship and had retired from the first round.

What happened in Asia, was our departure predictable or did we fail?
First of all, I think we were very good at qualifying for the Asian Cup for the first time. This delay in qualifying is not a coincidence. The main reason for the lack of sports facilities in Lebanon. How can we come back from a long break in Bahrain, where we were training in meadows, going back and practicing a five-day synthetic turf playground. Everyone should know that artificial football is a different sport than natural terrain, as was the case in the UAE. Everything is different Speed ​​of the ball, movements of the players, control of the ball, payment to the goal.
Lebanese players are trained in shoes that correspond to artificial playgrounds and play different shoes for natural fields. If you want to develop the Lebanese team, you must first develop the facilities, the training system and create a strong league. When a league is strong, it makes selection easier.
I do not want to rank players between Lebanese and foreigners. They are all Lebanese, but there is a difference between the local player and the professional player abroad. The local player has a lot of talent, but there is no possibility to develop his talent and raise his level with this potential. There are very great talents, but they will remain talents. I do not say that the professional player abroad has a better talent. What I say is that their football life is different and that they live in a professional environment. They train properly and well, live well. Their way of life is different, they play in a powerful league. That's why we saw the difference between the players.
In the last four years we have done a great job. When I arrived, Lebanon was ranked 155th and we reached 77th place with a series of unbeaten games and we qualified for the Asian Cup.
Many people think that these advances in ranking, as well as the purified, imaginary and fictitious result of easy games and defensive mentality, and that you are working to improve your resume, not to the benefit of the Lebanese team, how do you see that?
No is not imaginary or fake. Among those matches and progress in the rankings played with Uzbekistan, we had a negative tie and we were good, and we beat Jordan (1-0). Regarding the way I play, I insist that I did not change my style in every game we played until we won a big match. North Korea, for example, scored five goals. It's one of those clean matches with Macedonia. She played the same way. Three at the heart of the defense: Moataz Al-Junidi, Joan Al-Omari and Nour Mansour. And on the parties, Ali Bath and Qasim Al Zain, and in the center Haitham Faour and Samir Ayas, as well as in the attack Hbadan Maatouk and Hilal Hilwa and Ataya spring. How did I change my style of play and we won (5-0). Is this the way to play the same thing (3-4-3), that we won on Jordan (1-0), then tied with Oman and negatively and in the same way.
What is different is the nature of the competition. We are the first time in the Asian championships, this is new for the players, who are undoubtedly psychologically affected. Add to that the participation of stronger teams. And here I would like to point out something, I did not lose in the first match against Qatar. Arbitrary errors are what made us lose. We scored and did not score the goal, and we received an incorrect touch of one hand and a yellow card on Hbadan Matouq by the wrong decision of the umpire. Thanks to this card, we came out of the Asian Cup.
In Qatar and Saudi Arabia, I started to play (3-4-3) and after scoring a goal 4-1-4-1 or 4-4-2, I scored a second goal in both matches. In a friendly match against Uzbekistan, the opponent received a red card and then changed the game from (3-4-3) to (4-4-2). We did not score, but we scored goals. What we need, it is of a better quality in attack. Is playing with three strikers a defensive plan? The problem lies in the abilities and quality of the players.
Speaking of my work to improve my resume, I would like to say that I came to Lebanon with a better biography than that of all the coaches who preceded and trained the Lebanese team. I arrived with an autobiography that included the U21 European Championship with Serbia and Montenegro, the Olympic Games with the same team and the AFC Champions League with the Uzbek player Pakhtakor. So I would like to ask who asks this question: Which of the coaches who handed the Lebanese team has a better CV than me? Even the German coach, who had good results for the team, was his first coaching experience for the national team, just like the Italian coach.

We played in Asia and we lost two games. We played seven games without scoring. Even during meetings with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, there were few real opportunities for Lebanon. Why these negative numbers?
Simply because it is our level. After qualifying, I did some attack tests in friendly matches and the result did not interest me. Yet we did not score and we lost. Tell me how you can find Lebanese forwards in the league 80% of club strikers are foreigners and the top scorers are strangers. What is the ranking of the Lebanese league on a global scale? Which of the Lebanese teams has achieved an external feat? The true picture of league level in Lebanon was the match between Al-Nejmeh as a great team and competitor and even a leader with a large fan base and the Al-Ahli team in Egypt (4-1) in Beirut. This is a clear picture of the level of the Lebanese league.
Can you imagine if I had players like the old man of Saudi Hilal and Omar Alsumah of Ahli, how will my game be? Despite the presence of such players, Syria scored a point in the first round. Lebanon, which has neither sports facilities nor strong leagues, scored three points and a historic victory for the first time in the Asian Cup, and we came out with a yellow card. Yet there is dissatisfaction. Well, I have no problem, that is the mentality, but for those who say that I work for my personal benefit, I say that I rejected three offers three times larger than my contract with Lebanon. I love this country, I have friends and I work for the benefit of the Lebanese ball. I stayed because when I came to make a promise to the President of the Federation that I would qualify for a big tournament, that's what happened. And I kept my promise. I am happy with what she has accomplished.
Qatar has been working for this team for eight years and I formed this team two and a half years after the first qualification, where the process of change began.

Some ask why they played three teams in three games and why insist that Walid Ismail attend the North Korean meeting and not implicate Hbadan Shaito, who has the same attack? Why are your changes late?
I promised the players to participate in the Asian championship. And in reality, only "Shpreko" did not participate. For Walid Ismail, he was good for Korea, if there were no manufacturing problems. We often went to the Korean goal and missed many opportunities. However, I was involved in Attaya, Adnan Haidar and Moni, I had a problem in the middle of the field and I worked to solve it with these substitutions. As for the timing of the change, I can not change in the match against Korea, things are going well, we come to the goal several times. I change in time.

Were the players aware of the yellow cards and their importance during qualifying?
Yes, they knew it, but the problem was that there were no clear criteria for granting cards. At the meeting in Qatar, we received an undervalued card, while the Qataris did not receive any cards.

Radolovic oversees Lebanon under 23 years old (Adnan Al Haj Ali)

I took a picture of you with a Lebanese and I was told that I was an agent for the players and that I was providing professional offers, including Covenant player Samir Ayas, of that person?
I saw the picture and I do not know it. This is a friend of the chef de mission and a lot of Lebanese in the hotel asked to take pictures, one of them. It is wrong to talk about the participation of Ayas as an essential condition of the North Korean meeting to help this agent. I have been with us for a long time, Barashout has not fallen into the team and I needed his efforts to meet North Korea, like Nader Mattar. And so I do not think he's an agent of despair.

The clock has returned to the pre-Asian Championship, what are the things that change or do not come back and repeat themselves?
Nothing at all. I am convinced of every step you have taken. I do not care what is said in the yellow pages. The results, the numbers and the facts are what you are talking about me.

What after Asia?
We participated in a big tournament. I was clear and honest with everyone, the players and the union, and we did a good job. And established a good team for the future. I did not tell anyone about the future. My contract ends in May and is now a period of rest after four years of hard work in the absence of potential and the presence of twenty players banned from being part of the Lebanese team after the issue of betting, but we have achieved good results. I will be back in two weeks to discuss all the issues.

Is there merit for a team under 23 in Asian qualifying, which starts on March 22, by the technical staff?
I am the supervisor of this team and they will work according to my program, the technical staff led by the badistants of "Mima" and Mohammed, as well as the coach of the guards "Lido". We have established a list of players we will call, but unfortunately most of them do not play with their teams. When we return, we will call them together and observe the others at a weekly training session, then we will organize a camp and the qualifications will begin. We have enough time because work has already begun and preparations are complete.

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Grady problem and phone messages
The problem with the player Basil Grady, the public opinion on the eve of the match with Saudi Arabia and leave for the camp after the team refused to sit in the meeting. Much of the conversation has been told, from him to himself, in which he points out a misunderstanding of his message and that the problem does not concern the players, but the coach. There has been talk of a problem between Grady and several players. Radulovic asked what had happened and Radu insisted that the subject was on his back and did not want to talk about it, but he explained some things: "The problem is in Grady's mentality, his abuse with his colleagues and the mistakes he makes.Do not ask me about him, ask his fellow players.In Australia, I have a problem with Samir Ayas.In Bahrain, the problems were numerous. player came back and apologized for some things.And in the UAE had some things, before the big problem did not agree to sit down in the meeting in Saudi Arabia. "
Al-Akhbar received two messages sent by Grady to coach Radolovic, one on December 29, after the end of the Bahraini camp. "I would like to apologize for what happened in Bahrain. I was stupid, but I promise to come back with the same positive and stronger motivation for the Cup of Nations." Asia Thank you for giving me all these opportunities.
The second message, which was the main cause of the problem before Saudi Arabia, was: "I heard that you wanted to call Omar Boughel.You can call him to attend the meeting tomorrow, it's a great opportunity for him, I'm going to find a ticket and I'm going to join my team at his camp in Turkey.I do not say that in a dramatic or ridiculous context, because I'm a reserve at tomorrow's meeting. We can tell the players that I am infected and that my team has called me in. Even if you tell me that I will play tomorrow, I do not want any more of this nonsense.It would be crazy if I thought to be back with this team Grady sent this letter to the coach and then left the mission to his team in Turkey. Captain of the team, Hbadan Maatouk, explained the details of the case, what he did with Grady and why he did not participate in the Saudi match, as well as the differences in Bahrain.