The curtain fell on the 32nd round of the Chinese Super League (CSL) at 20:00 Beijing time on December 23rd, with Shandong Taishan defeating Shanghai Harbor by 0-2 score. After the game, Taishan assistant coach Hisashi Kurosaki walked onto the stage of the press conference together with Harbor's acting coach Zhikang.
Hisashi Kurosaki opened the match with a recap of the game, saying with emotion, "First of all, a heartfelt thank you to all of you for your support. Despite giving our best in this match, we unfortunately lost 0-2. Nonetheless, our team's efforts were evident for all to see, and the content of the match was not lost to our opponents."
Speaking about the substitutions of Jadson and Fellaini, Hisashi Kurosaki added: "Their departures definitely had an impact on the team, but even so, the rest of our players did their best. We still need to strengthen our teamwork in future training."
Facing the opponent's opening goal conceded, Hisashi Kurosaki said, "The opponent showed a strong desire to win. As a coaching team, we are also responsible for this. We will focus on strengthening this aspect in our future training."
Speaking about the loss of rival team Tri-Town, Hisashi Kurosaki commented, "It's not a bad thing for us, but we still need to focus on ourselves. Whether our opponents win or not, we need to be well prepared."
In the press conference, Coach Chikang reviewed the pre-match preparations, "Our coaching team decided to consider the last three games as finals and today's game was a good start for us. We analyzed beforehand that defense was the key for us. After a concise offense, we achieved a good result."
Regarding the absence of Wu Lei and Xu Xin, Coach Zhikang said, "If they return, we will be more confident. Even if they are temporarily absent, we are prepared to deal with difficulties."
Talking about the possibility of meeting Taishan again in the FA Cup in the future, Coach Zhikang said, "We need to make other preparations. Shandong went back to summarize their experience, and we want to anticipate more difficulties and strive for a greater chance to win. In this game, we have accumulated confidence and learned how to deal with strong teams. First, we need to play good defense and then meet the victory with confidence."
