Al Ahly head coach Pitso Mosimane has laughed off the latest criticism directed at him ahead of facing Mamelodi Sundowns this weekend.
Mosimane will come up against his former club for the third time in the Champions League since leaving the club for the Egyptian giants in September 2021.
Having won the first matchup and drawing the second, Sundowns were dumped out of the competition which sparks all the more rivalry in the heated Group of Death clash.
But ahead of the game, Mosimane has been criticised by sections of the media and supporters for resting some of his influential talents ahead of the Masandawana encounter.
“Yes we have to get the bodies back and I understand that someone was telling me, I don’t know how true it is but they criticised me for giving players two days off,” he told the media this week.
“So tell me if you have [Amr] El-Solia, [Ali] Maaloul, they go to the Arab Cup, after that, I have one training session for the Super Cup against Raja and nobody cares that I had one session, we have to win the club,” he explained.
“After that, they had two days and then off to the Cup of Nations, I never saw them for two months, Arab Cup, Super Cup, AFCON – after that I had two training sessions with players I didn’t see for two months then it was the World Cup and nobody cares, I have to bring a medal. It’s very very difficult, you don’t understand.
“Then 14 days, the World Cup, one and a half days [in Cairo] then to Sudan [to face El-Merrick], 35 degrees, a heavy pitch, from outside it looks good but when you step on it, your foot goes down.”
The three-time CAF Champions League-winning coach went on to question the human side of the criticism, stating the schedules of the Red Devils limits their time spent with their loved ones.
“So when did El-Solia or El-Shenaway see their families? When? They have families, they haven’t seen their children for two months and someone says you give the players off,” he continued.
“Sometimes we talk from nowhere, I mean really, I have children also. Remember El-Solia’s injury? The calf, it’s overload. El-Shenaway, all the time, overload and then these guys must train every day. No, let the others play, I need Maaloul and Abdelmonem, I need them.
“And you know after this game, do you know how many games are coming? Five in a row and we going to South Africa, you need one day to travel and then you train twice, come back and when you’re back the diary continues, so it’s easy to talk from outside because you want to talk.”
