Al Ahly head coach, Pitso Mosimane spoke about the team’s preparations for our upcoming match against Tanzania’s Simba SC in our second match of the CAF Champions League group stage.

In his pre-match press conference, Mosimane explained the difference between playing in the FIFA Club World Cup and the CAF Champions League.

“Our players gained a lot of experience by playing in a tough competition like the FIFA Club World Cup.  Playing in the FIFA Club World Cup also affected us deeply, as we played three games in nine days which caused us to have many absences after the tournament as several of our players became injured.”

“However, we will benefit from the experiences that our players gained from playing in such a prestigious tournament.”

“We are fully concentrated on tomorrow’s game against Simba SC. We only focus on our upcoming objectives in the tournament and we don’t think too much about the past.”

“Moreover, we look forward to qualifying early from the group stage.  We don’t want to wait until the very end, like what happened last season when we qualified in the last round against Sudan’s Al Hilal Club.”

“On a different note, we will not be having technical changes to cope with the hot weather. However, if we do have any changes it will be only to help us win the game.”

“This is a football game and we have to respect our opponent, as they will also want to win the match.”

“Lastly, I analyzed Simba SC very well. They have a lot of great players, especially Luís Miquissone who I coached while I was managing Mamelodi Sundowns FC.  Moreover, their attacking players: Mushimba Mugalu and Meddie Kagere are also very good. Therefore, we will be facing a strong and organized team, which will make the game difficult for us. However, we will be looking forward to achieving a positive result in order to help us qualify early from the group stage.”