The 2018 finalists put on a display of fast, attacking football in their 3-1 win over Islamic Republic of Iran in their final Group D match to qualify for the knockout stage and claim a berth at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025.
“We won because we improved movement in the middle and had good timing and rotation,” he said. “This is where we won the match, especially when fighting for the second ball.”
The San Marino-born tactician, however, was firm that he would not deploy the same strategy against Korea Republic.
“No, no, no, because every team has their own characteristics, and I change my tactics and players every time we play based on the opponents’ attributes.”
Tajikistan, who failed to get past the group stage in the 2023 edition, started Saudi Arabia 2025 with a 2-1 win over Oman before falling 3-0 to DPR Korea. They rallied in spectacular fashion against Iran and dominated the match to top their group ahead of DPR Korea.
Ragini admitted he had little knowledge of Korea Republic.
“I don’t know this team so I will need to go through their details,” he said, “But we know the East Asian teams are very strong and have very technical, fast players.”
Korea Republic, one of the pre-tournament favourites, stumbled at the start of their Group C campaign when they lost 1-0 to Indonesia. The two-time champions, however, picked themselves up to dominate Afghanistan 6-0 before dispatching Yemen by a solitary goal to finish second in their group.
Head coach Back Ki-tae, while generally pleased with his team, said they need to improve their confidence in on-the-ball situations and focus on their individual capabilities if they are to mount a serious challenge for the title.
“It shouldn’t have been so hard for our team but then we lost the first match,” he said. “This made the path to qualifying very difficult, but the players worked really hard from the second match onwards so I thank them for their achievement.
“Going into our quarter-final match, we will need to study our opponents’ performance, analyse their strengths and weaknesses and proceed from there.”
