Ante Šimundža convinced that Maribor could have celebrated: “But what if we scored after a primary school mistake”
Photo: Žan Pak
That Ante Šimundža was not pleased after the match with Celje is no surprise. The Maribor coach was disturbed by many aspects of his team’s performance, including the second and decisive goal scored by the home team. While it was indeed a masterpiece from Svit Sešlar, it was also something that a serious team aiming to be the best should not let happen.
“It’s clear. In the first half, we were poor, not aggressive enough, and showed too little desire to win the ball. We left too much space, but it’s not just the defense’s fault; everyone was too passive, which Celje was able to exploit. Then we made substitutions and actually got what we were looking for and wanted. We adapted to the opponent and prevented them from creating more chances. The second half was ours; we were better, but in the end, we conceded a goal due to a basic mistake,” lamented Ante Šimundža. The coach of the Ljudski vrt club firmly stated: “Unfortunately, we did not manage to achieve the goals we set before the match.”
Ante Šimundža: “Football is interesting because of this”
Albert Riera was critical of Maribor after the match, accusing them of merely waiting to see what would happen while Celje sought the path to victory. Ante Šimundža offered a slightly different perspective: “We lost, and of course, it’s not pleasant to lose. We don’t want to lose. But based on the performance and what we saw in the second half, we could have won. Unfortunately, Celje scored the second goal, and we didn’t. Football is interesting also because sometimes a team that was previously far from scoring manages to hit the mark…”
The match was decided by Svit Sešlar, a former Olimpija player who returned to Slovenia after a year in Turkey, but instead of returning to Ljubljana, he signed with Celje. “It was definitely a ‘European goal’. No doubt about it. But for an opponent to be in such a position… I repeat, for me, it’s a basic school mistake,” emphasized Ante Šimundža, who does not attach too much importance to the defeat: “We are all quite close in points now. But it’s important to remember that it’s only the beginning of the season, and we’re only nearing the end of the first quarter of the season.“
This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet
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