Mistakes in the midfield and defense cost the “Red Giant” a championship, and Maaloul’s replacement is a new crisis
Swiss coach Marcel Koller, coach of Al-Ahly of Egypt, threatened his players after losing to Algeria’s USM Al-Asimah in the African Super Cup match with a score of (0-1), and wasting the opportunity for the sixth title with him since he took over the team’s training in September (September) 2022. He stressed that his intervention with the players during the coming days He will be violent after this defeat.
Koller (62 years old) has won five championships with Al-Ahly since his arrival. Locally, he won the league, cup and super championships twice, and the African Champions League. He was very close to the sixth championship, but USM Algiers succeeded in snatching the title with a goal from the penalty spot scored by Zinedine Belaid in the minutes. The last of the first half in the match held in the Saudi city of Taif.
Technical errors
“A large number of goals should not be wasted in a big match like this. I will have violent interference with the players,” this is how Kohler commented on Al-Ahly’s loss to Algeria’s USM Al-Asimah, because Al-Ahly reached USM’s goal more than once in the match, but the players did not translate this. Opportunities into goals.
Extremely large spaces appeared during the events of the match between the defense and midfield lines, which prompted Abdelhak Ben Sheikha, the technical director of the Capital Union, to play in a high-pressing style and try to position his players between the lines of the African champions to exploit the spaces, which posed a threat with more than one counterattack during the events of the match.
The spaces that appeared between the defense and midfield lines in Al-Ahly may be due to the presence of Imam Ashour for the first time in an official meeting after his official joining and his lack of great harmony with the duo Aliou Dieng and Marwan Attia.
Maaloul crisis
Koller confirmed during his statements after the match that his team's strength lay in the right side, which consisted of Mohamed Hani at full-back and Reda Selim and his replacement, Percy Tau, in the wing position, more than the left front, which had Ali Maaloul at the back and Hussein Al-Shahat in front of him and his replacement, Salah Mohsen.
Kohler said in his statements in the press conference after the match, “Today our strength was more on the right side than on the left, and these are the conditions of the match,” but looking at the events of the match, we find that there was some suffering on the defensive side for Ali Maaloul, who is subjected to very great fatigue after playing 70 minutes. In the friendly match between Egypt and Tunisia, just two days before the match between Al-Ahly and Ittihad Al-Asimah, this is due to the lack of a competent replacement for the player on Al-Ahly’s roster in the new season, which is what Kohler will suffer from in placing his squad in the matches, after failing to sign a left-back during the summer, as he was putting Officials have Mohamed Hamdy, the Pyramids player, under their watch, but he recently renewed his contract, closing the door on his departure.
Thus, Kohler does not have the opportunity to prepare a replacement for Ali Maaloul during the upcoming matches, as he has one player in front of him, namely Mohamed Ashraf, the young player, or to exploit the possibility of Khaled Abdel Fattah participating in more than one position and field him in some matches as a left back to overcome the lack of personnel in this position until the January transfers (December). ii) upcoming.
The African League and the Club World Cup
On the second of this September, the draw for the first edition of the African League was held, pitting Al-Ahly against Simba of Tanzania in the first round of the tournament, the two matches of which will be held next October. The loss of USMA in the Super Cup may be a warning point for the players before an important tournament that will have... A huge financial return if achieved, as the hero’s reward will reach six million dollars.
The period of competing in the African League and the start of the Egyptian Premier League may witness Kohler implementing some adjustments to his plan and team formation in order to return once again to better harmony among his elements, as was demonstrated last season, which contributed to achieving championships.
Al-Ahly is awaiting a strong participation in the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia at the end of this year, as it will begin its matches in the second round by meeting the winner of the first round between Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad and Auckland City of New Zealand, especially after the “Dean’s” deals to include Karim Benzema, Fabinho, Kante, and Felipe Luiz, and having more than one element of the team. In the past seasons, they were led by Romarinho and Cornado, as if they skip the opening match, there will be a strong confrontation awaiting the African champion.
The Club World Cup will start next December 12th against Al-Ittihad and Auckland City, with Al-Ahly’s match with the winner of them taking place on the 15th of the same month.
Al-Ahly’s loss to Ittihad Al-Capital in the African Super Cup may benefit the team in the short term, which is what Kohler alluded to during his statements that the mistakes they faced in the match must be addressed. He said, “Mistakes must be addressed, especially wasting easy opportunities, and it is good that the defeat came at the beginning of the match.” season so that we can learn from the mistakes before the new season,” indicating that there is a lot of work that the team will do during the coming period.
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