Musimane: I confronted Al-Ahly with “the crocodile philosophy”

South African coach Pitso Musimane, the Al-Ahly coach, recalled his 5-0 win over Red Genie when he was coach of the South African Sundowns in the CAF Champions League for the 2018/2019 season.

Musimani said, in a taped interview with “Your Excellency” broadcast on “DMC” on Monday: “I don’t like to talk a lot about this match because I now represent Al-Ahly, but I don’t think I was ready to face Sundowns.” .

He added: “When I ask some of the Al-Ahly players now about the way we played at the time, they didn’t know, so I told them that we will use the performance analyst to see the strengths and weaknesses of the Wydad team earlier. to face him and remember all his games. “

He continued: “Al-Ahly did not prepare well for the match at that time, that was the reason and not the weakness of the team from a technical point of view, preparation is a very important factor first of all and it must be taken into account. bill”.

He stressed: “We were surprised by this great victory over Al-Ahly, but we prepared well for the match and knew their strengths and the capabilities of players like Marwan Mohsen and Ramadan Sobhi.”

He continued: “We knew the strength of Al-Ahly in his land, and we faced him when you take a crocodile out of the river so that you can fight it, and therefore when he returns to the water it will not be with the same force, which was also achieved in front Zamalek after we defeated him before the meeting back in Egypt. “

And about the 2016 African final, Musimani confirmed: “We made the game difficult for Zamalek after winning the game by three goals, and we surrounded him in the second leg and prevented him from scoring. We had opportunities to score, but we did not use them. good, and Zamalek should be entitled to the game. “

He continued: “We wanted the championship more than Zamalek. It is true that they did not win the title for many years, but we were hungry, but we shook hands after the battle, like boxing where competitors shake hands.”

He continued: “In the desert, the camel needs a long period between drinking every now and then. We use that same philosophy to frustrate the competitors because they don’t have the ability to continue.”

Mosimane said: “In some matches, I ask the team to complete the match and in the end we will win, which is what happened to Zamalek in the 2020 African final, where they collapsed at the end in the last 25 minutes of the match, and we were able to eliminate them like boxing and we win. “