Coaches rue painful exits
Monday, November 28, 2005
Article summary
The coaches of Montpellier HSC and Djurgården/Älvsjö are still coming to terms with their semi-final defeats having won their away first legs.
Article body
Duo denied
But on Saturday, Montpellier fell to a 3-2 defeat by Frankurt and exited on away goals, having twice hit the woodwork and missed a penalty. A day later, Djurgården/ Älvsjö were defending a 3-2 lead against the team that beat them in last year's final, Potsdam, but had no answer as the visitors to Solna turned on the style and won 5-2.
Impressive achievement
To get as close as they did was an impressive achievement for Montpellier, who have come a long way from their early exit last season. Indeed, no team from outside Germany and Scandinavia has come this close to the final. However, that barely eased the pain of coach Patrice Lair. "Of course we're disappointed because it was possible to be through and more, which was a little bit unexpected prior to this two-legged tie," he said. "We had opportunities in both games and missed a penalty. But we can be proud of our tournament."
Potsdam comeback
As for Djurgården/Älvsjö, they had trailed Potsdam 2-0 with 12 minutes to go of the first leg, only to produce a stunning finish. But 22 minutes into the return they had conceded twice, were 3-1 down at half-time and were never again to level the aggregate score. Home coach Benny Persson, whose team will not be back in this competition next year after conceding the Swedish title to two-time European champions Umeå IK, said that Potsdam had been clinical.
Clinical
"Turbine Potsdam were very aggressive from the start of the game and were strong inside both penalty areas, but in truth they didn't create that many chances apart from the ones they scored," Persson said. "In the end they proved very effective and used their counterattack to full effect. We struggled to cope with their pace, but in some funny way it felt as though we were still in with a chance."
Fagerström absence
Persson refused to allow the absence of midfielder Linda Fagerström, in Thailand on a pre-booked holiday, as an excuse. "It's impossible to say what effect she would have had if she had been playing," the coach said.
