SAITAMA — Nagoya Grampus manager Dragan Stojkovic blasted his team's "lack of intelligence" after letting a halftime lead slip in Wednesday's 2-1 defeat to Urawa Reds, holding himself up as the model for his players to aspire to.
Stojkovic, one of the world's best midfielders during his 1990s heyday, could do nothing but watch as Yosuke Kashiwagi and Genki Haraguchi canceled out Josh Kennedy's 13th-minute opener at Saitama Stadium, leaving the Serbian frustrated that excellence does not come as naturally to his players as it once did to him.
"We were not intelligent," Stojkovic said. "This is the problem. I don't want to talk about names but definitely we don't have a player like me.