Bali United Defeat Persija 2-1, Teco Appreciates His Team But Reluctant To Underestimate Ex-Club

JAKARTA - Bali United coach, Stefano Cugurra did not hesitate to appreciate his team's performance when they defeated Persija Jakarta 2-1 in week 29 of Liga 1 2021/2022. However, Teco, his nickname, still gives a positive statement to the Kemayoran Tigers who are also his former club.

In the match which took place at Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai Stadium on Sunday, March 6, Serdadu Tridatu opened the scoring through Illja Spasojevic's goal in the 34th minute. Then, Persija Jakarta was able to catch up with Irfan Jauhari in the 77th minute.

Entering the end of the match, Bali United scored the winning goal through Lerby Eliandry in the 83rd minute.

This victory made Bali United successfully pack 63 points from 29 matches. The nicks also make them entrenched calmly at the top of the standings.

For this slick result, Stefano Cugurra said he was proud of the Bali United squad who were able to work hard to score a superior goal in the last minute of the second half.

"We worked hard until the last minute and attacked again so we could score", Teco said at his post-match press conference.

Furthermore, the coach also emphasized that the most important thing at this time was Bali United being able to maintain the top position of the standings.

"This result is very good for us because the target is to remain in the first position in the League 1 standings", he explained.

Even though they managed to beat Persija Jakarta, Teco also really appreciates the hard work of the Kemayoran Tigers squad. Moreover, the capital city club he had also designed and won in the President's Cup, so Teco was reluctant to give a bad statement to Sudirman's club.

"I said they have quality and Persija played well today. They have the passion, organization, and quality to score against us", said Teco.

"We have to respect Persija because there are many good players there. Many of his players have won and have quality", concluded the coach.

Things are different with Bali United, who smiled with the results in this match because they were able to sit at the top. Persija just the opposite, losing three points made them stuck in 8th position in the standings with a collection of 38 points.