Kristian Mørch ahead of FCK: “We must play entertaining and lively football”

When HB Køge Women visit FC Copenhagen tomorrow at Vanløse Idrætspark for the third round of the Women’s Cup, it will be a meeting between the leaders of the A-League and B-League. Head coach Kristian Mørch is looking forward to an intense match in which both the knockout format and the opponent place special demands on the preparation.

“The obvious thing is that these matches cannot end in a draw they must be decided. That means they can potentially become much longer than normal, and you must take that into account in your decisions. A five- to ten-minute substitution can suddenly turn into something resembling an entire half. It creates a more intense atmosphere around the matches because it’s all about winning or going out.”

Although the club’s primary focus lies on the A-League, Mørch makes no secret of the team’s ambition to go far in the cup competition.

“Our most important competition is the A-League, but now that we are no longer playing in Europe, we are interested in playing as many matches as possible. This team is just built in a way where they really don’t like losing, they want to win. And that is of course the ambition tomorrow as well.”

HB Køge Women played FC Copenhagen in a friendly earlier this autumn, which ended in a 4–1 victory for the Swans. But the head coach expects a different expression from the Copenhagen side this time.

“There was quite a bit of rotation in both squads back then, so I definitely expect two strong teams tomorrow. We’ve looked at their league matches and prepared as we would for any other match. FC Copenhagen are used to dominating, they are strong on the ball, and they want to build up their play well. We have great respect for the way they have gone about things.”

For tomorrow’s match, the coaching staff expect an engaged and offensive expression from their team:

“As in all other matches, for us it’s about playing entertaining and lively football. We need players on the pitch who want to attack and then we must figure out how to win the specific match we are in. 

We’ve been really good at that in the league, where we haven’t just followed a plan from a desk, but have managed to adapt and find solutions along the way. I expect us to do the same tomorrow,” the head coach concludes.

Kick-off at Vanløse Idrætspark is at 18:30 tomorrow, and there will be free entry for all fans. For those unable to attend, the match will also be streamed for free on pluto.tv.