Jamie Pacheco, Zamalek coach, believes that his team was less fortunate, and more tired, than Al-Ahly, in the CAF Champions League final, which Al-Abyad lost 2-1.
Pacheco said to Zamalek TV: “Because of Corona, we lost Obama, who, in addition to his offensive capabilities, is important to our defense operation, and we lost the most important trap in Egypt, which is the winch, as well as Abdullah Jumah, who helps us a lot on the defensive and offensive side. By their absence, we lost the balance. “
He added, “The return match against Raja was postponed twice in order to defeat Corona in their ranks, and the same thing could have happened to us before the final so that our players would recover from Corona as well.”
And he added, “I congratulate Al-Ahly for their victory in the African Champions League. It is fair to say that Al-Ahly’s victory over us was very difficult. We were late and then equalized and we had the possibility to advance and excel, and our players were champions.”
He revealed, “The difference between the performance against Al-Ahly and the Vanguards of the Army? Perhaps the players’ feelings were affected by the loss against Al-Ahly because they deserved to win. We tried to qualify the players but it was difficult, and the stadium was poor, and the team emotionally was not well due to the shock of losing Al-Ahly. “
“Nobody can say we were bad in the Champions League final,” he stressed. “Maybe Al-Ahly was luckier and less tired than us.”
He explained, “Because of Corona, we missed 3 basic pieces in our team against Al-Ahly. With all due respect to Alaa, Abdel-Ghani and Abdel-Salam, Al-Winch was the most ready. In the presence of Al-Winch and Obama, we only received 5 goals and in their absence we received the same.”
He added, “All greetings to Shikabala for his performance and the abilities he showed as a professional player. I engaged Kasungu instead of Shikabala to try to get free kicks from the left side and revive the team, but our calculations were not correct.”
He stressed, “Onajem did not train before confronting Al-Ahly, and the pain returned against the army. Do you imagine that the same thing will happen to him against Al-Ahly?”
He concluded on this point: “The players did not fall short, if someone made a mistake, it was me. We did not win against Al-Ahly because Corona was our enemy in the match.”
Likewise, Pacheco talked about the scenes of his departure in 2014, and his return to the team, saying, “In 2014 I came to Zamalek and I continued until December 31 and won 10 out of 12 matches. I left the club due to a misunderstanding. I made mistakes because I am not a perfect man. But I worked with me.” Great people here. I loved Zamalek club and that’s why I’m back. “
He added, “I received invitations from clubs in Egypt to train their teams, and I did not answer them because I love Zamalek.”
And he added, “Two and a half months ago when I came back, my first concern was knowing the state of the team, and curious to watch the matches in Tanta and Aswan. I saw a very strong team, but there was a kind of lack of balance and I saw that I could improve the team in some ways and this is what I succeeded in with all respect to the former coaches.” “.
He stressed, “I saw that the best medicine for the team is to work on the defensive side. That does not mean that the defense was not at the level, but the team should have been formed differently and this is what I succeeded in.”
“We maintained second place with great suffering, with a match played every 3 days. It was also important to progress in the CAF Champions League. We made a lot of effort due to the pressure of matches and the consumption of players. Al-Ahly was ahead by 20 points and could rest its players, and we are following Pyramids,” he stressed. with all power”.
He explained, “I only scored 5 goals before confronting Al-Ahly, and we received 5 goals against Al-Ahly and Al-Jaysh Vanguards. Corona had a negative impact on our team’s defense.”
He concluded, “I had time before my match against Raja, so we performed well because of good preparation and were able to beat the Moroccan champion twice.”
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