Suarez: Head Coach Unable to Control Certain Non-Match Factors; Guoan Continues to Experience Strange Situations

In the FA Cup quarter-finals, Beijing Guoan lost 1-2 as a guest against Shanghai Shenhua and failed to reach the semi-finals. After the match, Guoan’s head coach Suarez stated that his team has experienced strange situations in two consecutive games, and he is unable to control certain factors outside of the game, which seems to be a response to the controversial refereeing decisions during the match.

Although Guoan lost 1-2, Suarez said that Beijing Guoan’s performance was above their opponents, but they failed to seize many opportunities.

Suarez was then asked about the possibility of being sacked (whether there are performance requirements in his contract), but he indicated that he does not care about these things, “These are not important to me. What’s important is for Guoan to show themselves, to let my players compete in the best condition, and play exciting matches. Everyone saw today that we played an exciting match. Sometimes I am also curious about some of the comments from the outside world, but my thoughts are not on these.”

Suarez reiterated that Guoan missed many opportunities, “Shenhua is a great team, they are fighting for the title. We demonstrated our strength in the opponent’s home stadium, and we had many opportunities too. Unfortunately, we did not win the match.”

Regarding the controversial refereeing decisions during the match, Suarez seemingly responded, “We have experienced some strange situations in two consecutive games, which I find very puzzling. We scored in the 92nd minute, but in fact, we should have scored earlier. But why couldn’t we score? Regrettably, I cannot control other factors. Everyone can see our performance.”

Suarez firmly believes that based on Guoan’s performance in this match, they could easily rank in the top 3 of the league, “Based on Guoan’s performance in this match, we could be ranked in the top 3 of the league. Which other teams could perform like this at Shenhua’s home ground?”

Regarding not starting Cao Yongjing, Suarez also made a response, “Cao Yongjing is a good player, but he needs better coordination with his teammates. He will definitely become a great player in the future.”