Players lose focus in the final minutes and I will change that: Buru coach Rodríguez

Buru Sports coach Cristian Rodríguez has said that players' concentration drops in the closing stages of matches, and that he will work to change that situation. In last Friday's match against Bees Buru Sports, Buru Sports were still in the lead as late as the 80th minute, and Rodríguez noted the way his team played in the first half. Asked whether the team is showing the improvement he wants, the young coach pointed to the first half of that match. However, the Spanish coach said the result slipped away in the final moments because of small mistakes. "For 80 minutes of the match, I cannot say anything bad about the way the team played. We dominated for 80 minutes of the match. But we lost this match because of two mistakes that were made, small differences," he said. He said that in order to win matches and produce the results they want, the players must give their attention across the full 90 minutes and in the additional time played after that. He said the players must give 200 percent concentration for 90 minutes. Asked at a pre-match press conference whether that meant they should give 400 percent during extra time after giving 200 percent for the 90 minutes, Rodríguez replied: "Sometimes." "I told the players as well that you have to play the 90 minutes giving your full attention, giving 200 percent. If you cannot focus for 90 minutes, this kind of thing will happen," he said, referring to the way results slip away late in matches. Speaking about the difficulties of holding on to a result in the final part of a match, the coach said that if there are experienced players in the side, it becomes easier to control the closing stages and protect the result. "When you are leading 1-0 in the final part of the match, you have to know how to control the tempo of the match and slow the opposing team down. If there were two or three experienced players, I am certain these things would change. But we know that is not the situation in this team, and we are working on it," he said. In the Dhivehi Premier League, Buru will play Gaddhoo this evening. The only two teams yet to earn a point in the league are these two sides.