Danish coach Jess Thorup, manager of Al Ahly, expressed his happiness after his team’s 2-0 victory over Young Africans in the CAF Champions League group stage at Borg El Arab Stadium.
He said: “We played this match after a long break, with many internationals away for almost 7 weeks.” Thorup explained that the players had only one full training session plus recovery work before the game, stressing that performance will improve with time but that wins always give the team confidence.
He added that football is always played to win, and reaching the top of the group with 7 points is a promising start to the new year as they look ahead to the upcoming fixtures. On starting goalkeeper Mostafa Shobier, Thorup revealed he held a meeting with Mohamed El Shenawy and Shobier, making it clear that competition for the goalkeeper position, like all positions, will be decided on the pitch.
Thorup confirmed he knows new striker Marwan Osman well from his previous time at Ceramica Cleopatra and that the player proved in training he has qualities that can help the team, which is why he started against Young Africans.
He noted that everyone talks about the need for a striker, but reminded that the team is 11 players, all defending and attacking together, and that he prefers goals and chances to come from the whole team.
Thorup concluded that Ahly created many chances and Trezeguet scored two great goals, adding that they will keep working on improving the attack but he will not speak publicly about his transfer requests to the club’s board.
