Ahly's coach Pitso Mosimane reacts during the FIFA Club World Cup second round football match between Qatar's Duhail and Egypt's Al-Ahly at the Education City Stadium in the Qatari city of Ar-Rayyan on February 4, 2021. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)
The Egyptian club became the first African side since 2013 to win their opening Club World Cup match. They squeezed past Al Duhail from host nation Qatar, 1-0 Thursday (February 4) in the quarter-finals.
The Red Devils will now face tournament favorites Bayern in the last four on Monday and head coach Mosimane says he acknowledges that his team are huge underdogs, going into the game.
“Bayern Munich, we should have fun, I think,” Mosimane said in a post-match press conference. “We have nothing to lose but everything to (gain). “Imagine we win that match, our lives will turn around.
“It will be a very difficult match. They are a big team. They are the champions and they have won the Cup, they have won the league, they have won the Champions League. What else have they not won?
“Okay, we did the same too in Africa, we won everything, the treble but they are Bayern. Bayern have got the pressure (on them). They must beat us (and) we don’t have pressure so we are going to have fun.”
Mosimane then hinted that Ahly’s best chance of creating an unlikely upset would be to rely on penalties to progress.
“Maybe frustrate them a little bit and see how it goes. It will be nice to take this to penalties and then it will be 50-50,” he added. “If that team can beat Barcelona 8-2 with Lionel Messi on the pitch, who are we? So, we are just here to have fun. (On Thursday), we were supposed to win, and we have won the match.
“For Bayern, I don’t know….what can we say? They have got all the great football players. But you know how football is. Sometimes, football has got its own mysteries and you ask yourself ‘what happened’?
“These things do happen. You remember Leicester City won the English Premier League title and maybe, it may never happen again in our lifetime but it has happened.”
Story by Sammy Wejinya
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