Swiss Marcel Koller, coach of Al-Ahly of Egypt, said, on Saturday evening, that his team committed many mistakes against Brazilian Flamengo, which led to the loss of the match.
Al-Ahly of Egypt lost to Brazilian Flamengo in the Club World Cup, 4-2, in the third and fourth place match.
After the match, Kohler spoke to reporters, saying: “We were late in the first half against Flamengo, and we were able to come back and we deserved a draw at the end of the half.”
He added, “The second half, we pressed hard and had a 1,000 percent chance. It should end with a goal and kill the match, but it was lost, and after that the match changed completely.”
And he continued: “Mistakes at this level are difficult to compensate for, and when you make these mistakes, this means that what you provide is not sufficient to play at this level.”
Al-Ahly mistakes
- In the 56th minute, Al-Ahly gets a penalty kick, after Thiago Maya blocked Mohamed Sharif. Ali Maaloul rushed to it, but he hit a ground ball to the right of the goalkeeper, which Santos saved easily in the 57th minute, preventing Al-Ahly from advancing.
- Mohamed Sharif almost finished the match in the 73rd minute completely alone, but he hit a ground ball into the hand of the goalkeeper, and this is the “1000 percent” chance that Koller spoke of.
- In the 77th minute: A wrong exit from Mohamed El-Shennawy to catch a cross, and the ball fell from his hand to find Pedro, who scored the equalizer in the empty goal.
- The 84th minute: Algerian referee Mustafa Ghorbal awarded a penalty kick in favor of Flamengo, due to the presence of a handball on Mohamed Hani.
- The 89th minute: Pedro ended the match with a fourth goal, taking advantage of a wrong pass from Al-Ahly midfielders towards the defense, and fired with all force into Al-Shennawy’s goal.
It is noteworthy that Al-Ahly will play against Al-Hilal of Sudan, next Saturday, in the first round of the African Champions League groups.
