After Turkey's 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the third round of the UEFA Europa League group stage on June 27, Beijing time, Czech head coach Hasek attended a press conference. He expressed his deep disappointment in the face of the losing result, but at the same time highly praised the players' efforts and fighting spirit.
Hasek began by admitting, "It's very disappointing that we're going home. This team has great potential and we had hoped to show that to the fullest in this tournament. But unfortunately, we weren't able to win against Georgia, which was a key factor in our defeat."
Despite the unsatisfactory result, Hashek gave full credit to his players for their performance. In terms of fighting spirit, I would like to pay tribute to my players," he said. They gave their best in the game and showed a tenacious fighting spirit. We had to play under unfavorable circumstances, even at one point we only had ten players and the goalkeeper was injured. But even so, they didn't give up."
Hasek went on to say, "It's a defeat and I feel very sad and disappointed. Because we do have a team that is capable of getting out of the group. I feel deeply sorry for the players who gave everything and fought hard until the last minute. But that's the way the game is, there are always winners and losers. Now, we can only accept the result and prepare to go home."
