Hernán Medford, coach of Deportivo Saprissa, acknowledged his team’s shortcomings after their 1-2 loss to Sporting. Speaking at a press conference following the match, Medford said he would not make excuses for the defeat.
“Sporting was better than us,” Medford stated. “If they beat us, it’s because they did things better than we did.”
Medford described the loss as painful and attributed it to mistakes made by his team. He emphasized that errors need to be corrected ahead of their next match, which is scheduled in two days.
“It’s a defeat that hurts and it’s part of football. It’s a slap in the face and we give credit to Sporting. We lose because of mistakes we make. There are no excuses; I told the players that we did bad things and they can’t happen again. In two days we have to change our mindset and that’s good; in two days we can change everyone’s anger—the fans get angry, the players too. We made mistakes in certain areas and have to fix them,” he said.
When asked about injuries affecting the squad, Medford highlighted Jefferson Brenes’ performance but noted challenges due to multiple injured midfielders.
“Jefferson (Brenes) played a great game; regarding some players with the fans (Rachid was booed), they belong to the team and I must trust them,” he commented.
He added: “Unfortunately I have three defensive midfielders and all three are injured; these aren’t excuses but it’s something that can’t be hidden. For the next match in that position, we don’t have anyone—Acuña, Guzmán, and Barahona are all injured—and we’ll have to figure out how to organize ourselves knowing that in 48 hours we play again against Herediano.”
Regarding missed opportunities for leadership in the standings, Medford remained pragmatic.
“I can’t regret what I couldn’t achieve; after Sunday’s match against Herediano there are six more games (actually seven) left and after Sunday we could be closer than ever. Obviously it was a big opportunity lost—we wanted something else but it wasn’t possible,” he said.
Reflecting on lessons from the defeat, Medford stressed internal analysis with his players while acknowledging Sporting’s strengths.
“That’s very much within the group—what we need to improve. Internally you go deeper with the players: watch video, see what was missing and where we went wrong. I don’t take away merit from our opponent who had their strengths. If you analyze their second goal, we had problems—but I’m here to lift my players’ heads and tell them that on Sunday we must redeem ourselves,” he concluded.
