Disappointing draw with Latvia, Sylvinho justifies himself: We wasted the first 45 minutes

The coach of the Albanian national football team, Sylvinho, said after the match with Latvia, which ended in a 1-1 draw, that the team made a lot of mistakes in the first half.

Although there was an improvement in the second, according to him, football is played for 90 minutes and there should be a different attitude from the footballers.

"Football is unforgiving. In the first half, in the first 15-20 minutes, we made a lot of mistakes, especially in the ball circulation by the opposing team. We had a few corner kicks. We improved a lot in the second half, but that is not enough in this case. We need to enter the field with a different behavior, with a different attitude because football is played for 90 minutes ," said Sylvinho.

For the Red and Black Clan, the coach also commented on the substitutions he made.

"Laçi was very tired and was the first substitution faster because he had spent more energy. Hoxha was a little blocked, being replaced with Muçi to give the team an advantage since he plays between the lines. And then the other substitutions like Bajrami etc. Football is such that you can play with three strikers and not win, you can also play with one striker and win".

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"The objective was to win, if you look at the 90 minutes I think we had a chance, we deserved something more against Serbia, but in the end when the referee finishes. It's a point, on paper we should have won, but football is not on paper. On paper, I'm Brazilian, on paper if you don't do much on the field, Brazil, Germany and Italy don't win, it's not easy. We are growing, but I don't forgive you. We played a good second half, yes, we wasted 45 minutes.

It's not a tactical issue, it's the behavior, I repeat, 15-20 wrong minutes. And we scored. Well, for the quality we have on the field, we conceded a ridiculous goal in the last 2-3 minutes of the first half. That's where the match got complicated, don't forget the penalty, that's where everything got complicated. Around the 75th minute, the team was close to winning. With Daku and Uzun, the team was playing good football, then I put them in. Let's see, but it's the end of the match, what we tried, is simple, very wrong in those first 45 minutes.

It's a step back, the first 45 minutes, obviously when we have an objective and we are mentally strong and we understand that we are playing for an objective. You can't make a mistake for a minute, if you don't make it, that's life. We are growing, I repeat, we have to improve. You can't waste it, I ask a lot from myself, the staff and the players. I'm telling the truth, I said this at half-time, you can't waste it, life doesn't forgive you, we made a mistake. Maybe the first half could have ended 2-1 for them, it could have happened, the approach was wrong, of course, "said Sylvinho after the match.