Al Ahly sporting director Sayed Abdelhafiz has commented on his side’s historic 1-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns.
The reigning CAF Champions League winners lost for a first time on home soil to Masandawana, despite dominating large parts if the game.
However, a second-half strike by Thapelo Morena saw Downs take maximum points and extend their lead at the top of Group A.
Ahly, meanwhile, have only collected one point from their first two CAF Champions League group stage matches and are now under pressure to get positive results in their next game.
Abdelhafiz insisted that he still has faith in Pitso Mosimane and his team to make qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition.
“The group stage is about collecting points in order to qualify. The ball didn’t want to go in today, but we still have four games and we can save ourselves,” he told beIN Sport in a post-match interview.
“The coming period won’t be easy. We have difficult matches and we need to win them.
“This happens a lot in Africa. If we replay the match, we would score with all the chances we had. Last year on the same stadium, we drew with AS Vita Club, with the same scenario.
“The coming period is difficult, but we are the defending champions. We need to be fully focused and do our best to qualify. We have matches against Pharco in the league, a match against Al-Merrikh, and then we travel to South Africa to face Sundowns.
“This is football. We don’t blame anyone but ourselves, and after we blame ourselves, we will focus on correcting our mistakes and achieve what is required of the group stage, which is to qualify.”
It was Al Ahly’s first home defeat in the CAF Champions League since June 2016 but Abdelhafiz has confirmed the club’s target of making the last eight of the competition has not changed.
“The main goal of the group stages is to qualify to the knockout stages,” he added.
“If we qualify as top of the group, it’s a good thing, and if we qualify as the second, it’s okay. In any case, we will face a strong team.
