Al Ahly Coach Pitso Mosimane Cautious of Mamelodi Sundowns: "I Made Us a Monster"
-South African coach Pitso Mosimane is expected to lead Al Ahly against Mamelodi Sundowns - a team he says is strong - in their CAF Champions League clash this Saturday
- After drawing against Zamalek on Monday night, Mosimane has argued that the match should have been postponed to give his men time to recover
- On the other hand, Mosimane will face Sundowns for the first time as Ahly coach and will look to bounce back to winning ways against Masanadawana in Cairo
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Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane’s men are going through a rough patch as they registered a 1-1 draw against Zamalek on Monday night.
The Red Devils netted in the 72nd minute through second-half substitute Salah Mohsen, who latched onto Amr El-Sulya's pass before rounding goalkeeper Awad to fire into the back of the net.
However, Mosimane’s troops were denied the lead after 11 minutes as the White Knights scored courtesy of Ferjani Sassi's strike.
Just before their eagerly-anticipated clash against his former club Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday in Cairo, Mosimane and his men were looking for a motivating result.
Source: Twitter
The two African giants are scheduled to face off on Saturday in the first leg of the CAF Champions League quarter-final and Mosimane says he cannot try to be a Pep Guardiola.
A difficult match, obviously, we played against a good team, and it was not an easy match. Mosimane said to the media:
“You can see that Zamalek was playing for their dignity. They didn’t want to lose against us three consecutive times. They gave us a good fight today. In our recent games against them, we used to score first and they always come back, and this shows how good Zamalek is. I think it is fair to share match points.
“But from our point of view, we lost two points at home, and with the analysis of the result, we got four points from Zamalek out of six, sometimes you don’t achieve everything you want.”
Source: Twitter
Speaking of the clash against Masandawana, ‘Jingles’ said the reigning South African champions are a strong side.
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He added:
“We are the only Egyptian team playing in the CAF Champions League. Why was a match like that against Zamalek set up before the Sundowns clash, and wasn’t postponed, as happened with Sundowns in South Africa, to give them a rest before our match?
“But this is the nature of the Egyptian Premier League, and we will try to adapt to all circumstances. Sundowns is a strong team. I made us a monster, and now it wants to defeat me, but this is football. Guardiola faced Barcelona when he was coaching Bayern Munich and lost again them. I hope not to do the same.”
Briefly News reported that Mosimane was wanted by many Bafana Bafana fans to replace Molefi Ntseki.
However, Belgian coach Hugo Broos has since got the job after Ntseki failed to guide the 1996 African champions to the 2022 Caf African Cup of Nations.
In the wake of that disappointing result, Ntseki also expressed heartbreak as he is fully aware the nation has been let down.
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Source: Briefly News
