PLDC - In the first practice
session of Esteghlal Tehran on Thursday, 28/11/2002, after their return
from Uzbekistan, Ronald Koch (German head coach) spoke to his team,
“As we have no other Asian Clubs Super Cup matches until March, please
forget the tournament for now.”
“I would like you to seriously concentrate on the Professional League
games. If we get good results in the league and top the table, we will
play international games with stronger motivation and this will help to
add to our successes. Don’t worry about the loss against Naftchi at
all as I am accepting the responsibility for it. You did your best to
carry out my tactics in the match and we achieved our main aim which was
qualification into the next round.”