Lebanon coach Theo Bucker insists his side have had no luck in qualifiers

Jun 9, 2012 4:15:00 AM

The Cedars have only managed one point from their opening two final round qualifiers at home and their German coach believes they've been unlucky

Lebanon coach Theo Bucker believes his side have dominated their opening two final round 2014 World Cup qualifiers but is disappointed to have only claimed one point so far.

The Cedars drew 1-1 with Uzbekistan in Friday's qualifier in Beirut, having lost 1-0 at home to Qatar last Sunday.

Speaking after the draw with the White Wolves, where Ali Al Saadi equalised Djasur Khasanov's 12th-minute goal, Bucker lamented his side's failure to convert their domination into victories.

“We played well. It is a shame that we were the better side in the first match against Qatar and tonight, and yet we failed to win," Bucker said.

"We showed a good performance in the two matches, but we were not lucky... Al Saadi’s goal was a saviour for us."

Several local journalists criticised the German for his side's failure to win, but Bucker added he had been left disappointed by his foreign-based legion.

“I'm really disappointed with the performance of some players, especially the foreign-based players as their performance has dropped a lot in the recent matches," he said.

Uzbekistan boss Mirjalol Qosimov admitted the Cedars had been impressive in the second 45 and might have won the game.

“Lebanon were good, especially in the second half, and they gave us a hard time especially in defence where they managed to clear all the chances that we had in the game,” he said.

He added: “We produced a good performance and we were close to winning but we were unsuccessful with the chances that we had, especially our strikers who didn't know how to score."

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