Mokwena looking forward to meeting Al-Ahly post Mosimane era
Pitso “Jingles” Mosimane, a former Mamelodi Sundowns coach, was the head coach at Al-Ahly, which may have contributed to the match’s excitement in the Caf Champions League between the two teams.
According to a publication Masandawana will find it difficult to understand the new Al Ahly coach Marcel Koller’s style of play and philosophy now that “Jingles” is in Saudi Arabia making decisions at Al-Ahli Jeddah, in contrast to Mosimane, who was comparatively an open book to the Sundowns coaches who worked with him for a number of years.
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With the 10th title coming against Kaizer Chiefs of Soweto, Mosimane left behind a legacy for the North African team that included two Champions League victories.
Sundowns and Al-Ahly will resume their rivalry this following season after once again being placed in the same group. Mokwena is preparing for yet another challenging matchup with the Red Devil
“It’s always difficult to travel to Cairo, Al-Ahly are always tough to play against away from home. Not just with the hostility of the environment, but they have changed the coach and there is some improvement with the squad,” said Mokwena.
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“It is going to be a strategic game given how Al-Ahly always seem to play against Sundowns. The personality that they adopt both in the home and away matches is totally different but it will be interesting because these are two teams that know each other and they have the quality to play against each other,” Mokwena added.
Al-Ahly are not the only familiar face in Group B, with Sudan’s Al-Hilal Omdurman being one team that was part of the same group last season. However, there is the addition of 2008 finalist Coton Sport of Cameroon, who Mokwena looks forward to visiting.
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“There are huge resemblances with regards to familiarity last season in the group that we had. We are travelling to Egypt again this season and we had a very interesting trip to Sudan last season and we are looking forward to it this season. They are a difficult team and they have some really good players, some which we are familiar with, like Gerald Phiri (plays for Al-Hilal),” said Mokwena.
“There’s an interesting trip to Cameroon. There are a lot of very difficult teams that have made it into the group stages. Over the years, the Champions League has always become such a difficult competition for everybody, regardless of who is in our group,” Mokwena concluded.