Al Ahly played smart, displayed their famous spirit, and could have won by more than 1-0 against CF Monterrey, Pitso Mosimane said, after a 2021 Fifa Club World Cup victory that may go down as one of the coach's finest yet with the Cairo giants.
The Egyptian side were missing “about 11 players”, Mosimane said of Saturday night’s second-round opener for his team at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The victory saw the Red Devils into their second successive Club World Cup semifinals, where they will meet Brazil's Pameiras in a replay of last year's third-place playoff where Ahly won on penalties to take the 2020 edition's bronze medal.
FIFA's controversial scheduling clash meant Ahly had six players missing against Mexican outfit Monterrey because they are still on duty at the Africa Cup of Nations for Egypt, who meet Senegal in Sunday night's final in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Ahly's injuries include Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau, Badr Benoun, Ammar Hamdy and Salah Mohsen.
Playing a tactical masterclass of tight, counterattack football Ahly opened the scoring through Mohamed Hany's 53rd-minute strike against CONCACAF (Central American and Caribbean) champions Monterrey, then held onto the lead with spectacular defensive organisation.
“In football anything is possible. And in football you don't make excuses. If you have 11 players on the pitch and you have five substitutes anything is possible,” Mosimane said afterwards.
“There is no rule to say a better team, or a good team, or a full line-up team will win. No. The match is played on the pitch.
“So we don't make excuses, and we don’t say it because we won. You can trace all the interviews, we said it — we said we have the spirit of Al Ahly.
“And Al Ahly is one team that people might not know. This team has the spirit.”
Mosimane admitted Ahly's withdrawals had made Monterrey the favourites.
“You lose about 11 players — we had seven out, two with ACLs [anterior cruciate ligaments], and we lost Percy Tau, our main striker.
“We don't even have Mohamed Sherif here — I was playing Walid Sooliman as a striker. So you can see that I had to do what I had to do — I was surviving.
“Monterrey are good, they play well. But we were a little bit organised — we frustrated them.
“We played a bit on the counterattack, let's be honest. And we created many chances, to be honest — we should have won by more.”
Ahly's list of stars still at the Nations Cup includes talismanic goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenaway, star striker Sherif, midfielders Hamdi Fathi and Amr El Solia, and defenders Ayman Ashraf and Akram Tawfik.
The win could be big for Mosimane at a personal level. Despite his five trophies since his move to Ahly from Mamelodi Sundowns in September 2020 — including back-to-back Caf Champions League and Super Cup winners' medals — Ahly have delayed renewing Mosimane's contract until after the Club World Cup.
The coach will be aware that Ahly are expected to perform on the big stages. There was a measure of pressure on the coach as he had to field academy players in Egypt's new League Cup in January and exited after four draws and a defeat.
With his national stars back — though no doubt weary from travel and three of Egypt's Nations Cup knockout stage matches going to extra time — Mosimane will plot another win in Tuesday’s semifinal against South American champions Palmeiras.
That would set up a final, most likely against Chelsea, and be only the second time after Democratic Republic of the Congo's TP Mazembe in 2010 that an African team reached the Club World Cup last match.
TimesLIVE
Mosimane after Al Ahly play a masterclass at Club World Cup: 'In football anything is possible'
Image: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
Al Ahly played smart, displayed their famous spirit, and could have won by more than 1-0 against CF Monterrey, Pitso Mosimane said, after a 2021 Fifa Club World Cup victory that may go down as one of the coach's finest yet with the Cairo giants.
The Egyptian side were missing “about 11 players”, Mosimane said of Saturday night’s second-round opener for his team at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The victory saw the Red Devils into their second successive Club World Cup semifinals, where they will meet Brazil's Pameiras in a replay of last year's third-place playoff where Ahly won on penalties to take the 2020 edition's bronze medal.
FIFA's controversial scheduling clash meant Ahly had six players missing against Mexican outfit Monterrey because they are still on duty at the Africa Cup of Nations for Egypt, who meet Senegal in Sunday night's final in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Ahly's injuries include Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau, Badr Benoun, Ammar Hamdy and Salah Mohsen.
Playing a tactical masterclass of tight, counterattack football Ahly opened the scoring through Mohamed Hany's 53rd-minute strike against CONCACAF (Central American and Caribbean) champions Monterrey, then held onto the lead with spectacular defensive organisation.
“In football anything is possible. And in football you don't make excuses. If you have 11 players on the pitch and you have five substitutes anything is possible,” Mosimane said afterwards.
“There is no rule to say a better team, or a good team, or a full line-up team will win. No. The match is played on the pitch.
“So we don't make excuses, and we don’t say it because we won. You can trace all the interviews, we said it — we said we have the spirit of Al Ahly.
“And Al Ahly is one team that people might not know. This team has the spirit.”
Mosimane admitted Ahly's withdrawals had made Monterrey the favourites.
“You lose about 11 players — we had seven out, two with ACLs [anterior cruciate ligaments], and we lost Percy Tau, our main striker.
“We don't even have Mohamed Sherif here — I was playing Walid Sooliman as a striker. So you can see that I had to do what I had to do — I was surviving.
“Monterrey are good, they play well. But we were a little bit organised — we frustrated them.
“We played a bit on the counterattack, let's be honest. And we created many chances, to be honest — we should have won by more.”
Ahly's list of stars still at the Nations Cup includes talismanic goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenaway, star striker Sherif, midfielders Hamdi Fathi and Amr El Solia, and defenders Ayman Ashraf and Akram Tawfik.
The win could be big for Mosimane at a personal level. Despite his five trophies since his move to Ahly from Mamelodi Sundowns in September 2020 — including back-to-back Caf Champions League and Super Cup winners' medals — Ahly have delayed renewing Mosimane's contract until after the Club World Cup.
The coach will be aware that Ahly are expected to perform on the big stages. There was a measure of pressure on the coach as he had to field academy players in Egypt's new League Cup in January and exited after four draws and a defeat.
With his national stars back — though no doubt weary from travel and three of Egypt's Nations Cup knockout stage matches going to extra time — Mosimane will plot another win in Tuesday’s semifinal against South American champions Palmeiras.
That would set up a final, most likely against Chelsea, and be only the second time after Democratic Republic of the Congo's TP Mazembe in 2010 that an African team reached the Club World Cup last match.
TimesLIVE
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