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Loss Not Quite Upsetting To Santos
Santos expected Montreal to adjust to the conditions of the match well as the Impact beat Santos 2-0 on Wednesday.
Feb 26, 2009 1:34:41 AM
Montreal pulled off an upset of Santos with a 2-0 win, but the loss was neither shocking nor disastrous for the Mexican side.
"We had an idea that the game would play out like that," Santos coach Daniel Guzman said. "We know how the Impact play and unfortunately they adapted to the conditions better than we did. They took advantage of the two defensive errors we made."
Santos are not used to playing on the artificial surface as no Primera Division teams play on that sort of surface. And while Guzman did not use the surface solely as an excuse for a loss, both teams had to adapt to the field, and the rivals did well to do so.
"They adapted to the field conditions better. It took us some time and effort to get used to the surface," Guzman said. "I believe the Impact did things well and we could not find the goals that we were looking for."
Ultimately, Santos' attack was ineffective and left a lot of room for improvement.
"Plain and simple, we weren't very convincing on our attack," Guzman said. "We had three or four very clear scoring chances. We just have to make sure we learn from this game so that we can be more prepared for the return leg and look to counter on our own field."
The return leg will be played in Estadio Corona on March 5. Although the conditions will be in their favor, what Santos players are more confident in is their team showing their value.
"We have 90 minutes at our house remaining, and we need to make them count just like they made them count here for them," Daniel Ludueña said. "Obviously, they are not superior to us anywhere on the field, but that support from the fans and the field are things they had in favor of them, just like we'll have in our favor at our place."
Entering the match with a two-goal deficit, Santos will be confident when Montreal line up against Santos on Mexican soil.
"It will be a different story over there," Ludueña said. "Even though we're upset, we know that we have 90 minutes left and that will be very important because what we want is to through to the next phase."
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