Board member of Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly, Hossam Ghaly has pardoned head coach Jose Riveiro despite a string of poor results at the FIFA Club World Cup.
The African giants has yet to record a win at the maiden Club World Cup tournament in the USA, and risk suffering elimination from the group stage.
Al Ahly held Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami to a pulsating goalless draw in their opening match before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat to Brazilian outfit Palmeiras on Thursday.
The Egyptian giants currently sit bottom in Group A and now clings to only the faintest hope of reaching the playoffs.
Speaking in an interview, Hossam Ghaly acknowledged that the Spaniard did not have enough time to properly study the squad.
“Anyone who watched the first half could never have expected such an ending. Al-Ahly looked better and played with discipline for most of the opening period. The coach needed to have a clear plan for the second half, as the players’ fitness was bound to drop and that had to be factored in.
The technical staff should have prepared alternatives to maintain the level of play or inject more energy and technique in the second half. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I do give the coach some leeway, as he hasn’t yet had the chance to fully study all the players. He had very little time, and some footballers only joined the team very recently, which makes it difficult to make the right decisions in such big matches,” said Ghaly
