Saudi coach Renard rues missed chances

Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard congratulated Bahrain for winning the Gulf Cup, and also praised the performance of his players and technical staff for their performance during the championship despite losing in the final.

"We missed a penalty, and another shot hit in the crossbar at the start of the first half. Bahrain players were waiting for us, but we conceded the first goal. This is football, if you do not score from the opportunities, you have to accept the possibility of accepting goals, and this was what really happened. We played and fought to score the equalizer, but we did not succeed.”

He added: “We tried to change the course of the match after Bahrain’s first goal, but the intermittent stopping of the match killed the game. The Bahraini team tried to break any escalation in performance by stopping the game. This was their strategy, and they succeeded in the end in getting what they wanted.”

“Bahrain scored and then played the way they wanted. Our players tried to progress and score and provided the best, and they performed well. I congratulate them for that, but in the end they were unable to come back, because Bahrain had strengthened their defence.”