Persebaya Surabaya coach Bernardo Tavares believes the friendly match against PSIS Semarang, which ended in a 2-2 draw, is important for evaluation ahead of the 2026 President's Cup, particularly in measuring the players' ability to cope with match pressure.
"We want to see who can play under pressure. Training and matches are very different situations," Tavares said at a press conference after the Persebaya 99th Anniversary Game at GBT Stadium.
He explained that he deliberately gave almost all the players the opportunity to play to see who was able to make good decisions when appearing in front of tens of thousands of supporters at Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium.
Despite this, he commended his team for creating numerous opportunities, but acknowledged that there were still weaknesses that needed to be addressed immediately.
Persebaya, he said, conceded two goals due to individual and collective errors, while their finishing was also not effective enough despite having many scoring opportunities.
