FIFA Club World Cup: Dortmund Coach Explains Why It Was Hard to Play Against Sundowns

• Niko Kovac has commented on Borussia Dortmund's win over Mamelodi Sundowns at the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup in the United States
• The Croatian tactician is surprised about the Brazilians performance after analysing how they play during the pre-match conference
• The Dortmund manager also shared his thoughts about Sundowns clash against Fluminense in the last group fixture

Borussia Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac has explained why it was difficult to play against Mamelodi Sundowns after guiding his side to a 4-3 win over the Premier Soccer League giants at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The former Bayern Munich coach analysed how technical Miguel Cardoso's side are and shared why he was not surprised they had a tough time playing against them.

The win put Dortmund in a better position of qualifying for the second round while Sundowns need to defeat Fluminense if they want to qualify for the knockout stages.

Kovac reflects on facing Sundowns

In an interview after the match, Kovac claimed he was not lying about Sundowns being a technical side as he saw how they played.

“I wasn’t lying during the press conference yesterday, I said what I genuinely saw,” Kovac said. “Sundowns are a team that loves to play football. They’re technically very well-coached, and you can see the influence of their Portuguese manager in the way they approach the game.

“It’s easy to say on paper that we were the favourites, but football is played on the pitch. We did that, and it was a very difficult match. I’m convinced Sundowns' next game will also be a tight contest.”

Kovac also looked ahead to Sundowns’ clash with Fluminense, as he could determine the team that would join them in the next round.

“Fluminense are a good team, but in my opinion, Sundowns can challenge them. They can press them and compete, we’ll see how that game plays out.”

Kovač also addressed questions about Borussia Dortmund’s high defensive line, which was exposed multiple times by Sundowns attackers, particularly Tashreeq Matthews and Lucas Ribeiro Costa.

“Yes, we did struggle with the high line at times,” he admitted.

“Opponents analyze our games and try to exploit any weaknesses they find. But we’ve always played this way, it’s part of our identity.

“It wouldn’t make sense to change what has brought us success. We know teams will try to play in behind, which is why we rely on our goalkeeper to act as a sweeper. That’s part of our system and our habits, our automatisms.

“Of course, we need to defend the space behind a bit better, adjust our body positioning, and refine the details. But overall, we’ll keep playing our way, because it works for us.”

Williams explains what led to is error against Dortmund

Briefly News also reported that Ronwen Williams gave a detailed explanation about what led to error he made during Mamelodi Sundowns defeat against Borussia Dortmund at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Bafana Bafana goalkeeper was left devastated after costing his team a lead against the Bundesliga giants.

Source: Briefly News