Nelsinho happy with Kashiwa effort

Kashiwa Reysol coach Nelsinho praised his side’s effort in the 3-1 defeat to Santos in the Club World Cup semi-final.

Kashiwa went into the second half of Wednesday’s encounter at Toyota Stadium trailing 2-0 after goals to Neymar and Borges, but brought themselves back into the game thanks to Hiroki Sakai’s header from a corner.

The J.League champions eventually succumbed when Danilo expertly bent a free kick around the wall and past goalkeeper Takanori Sugeno to complete the scoring.

“We created many good chances, but we also committed some mistakes and conceded two early goals,” said veteran manager Nelsinho, who had a stint at Santos in his homeland in his time as a player.

“We conceded a little space, and Neymar scored once, almost twice. They were good in making use of their opportunities.”

Kashiwa created some decent goalscoring opportunities themselves, as players such as Jorge Wagner and Hideaki Kitajima put the Santos defenders under a surprising amount of pressure.

“We had many chances to score,” Nelsinho said. “But, in the end, to have chances in football means little, what matters is the result.”

The 2011 J.League Manager of the Year praised his team for keeping the match close, despite the presence of stars such as Neymar and Ganso in Santos’ talented line-up.

“Santos has a high-tempo when counter-attacking, but we replied to that excellent,” he said.

“In term of tactics we were well organised. Neymar and Borges had very little chances to counter-attack.”

“As for individual technique, we are not at the level of Brazil, but tactically we did well, and we gave Santos a hard time.”

It was a point not lost on Santos coach Muricy Ramalho, who knows his side must be better if they are to triumph in the final against the winner of La Liga heavyweights Barcelona and AFC Champions League holders Al Sadd.

“I don’t think it was a lucky game,” he said. “We are a skilled team, and we finished well.”

“In Brazil we basically focus on offence – not defence. So it is normal that we have conceded chances today.”

“Possession is not the same as result, but we will surely need to do better, because Barcelona are a fantastic team with possession, and we (only) scored goals tonight.”