Al Ahly legend, Ahmed Shobeir, has backed the team despite their early elimination from the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup.
The Egyptian giants’ elimination was confirmed after drawing 4-4 with FC Porto in their final group game.
Ahly suffered a defeat to Palmeiras and earned draws against Inter Miami and FC Porto, and finished at the bottom of Group A.
Despite the early exit, Shobeir praised the playing body and head coach Jose Riveiro’s efforts.
“The Al-Ahly match against Porto was the most beautiful match, the four goals, even the penalty kick, were good, and the match should have ended with a win,” said Shobeir, as quoted by Masray.com.
“It was a close game, a win within reach, and I really liked Jose Riveiro’s behaviour. As soon as he sensed a gap in the midfield, Hamdi Fathi came off and Aliou Dieng came on. That was a bold move that should be credited to him.”
“Even if we had won 10-0, we wouldn’t have qualified, because Palmeiras tied with Inter Miami. The surprise is that Al Ahly fans were very satisfied with the performance, because they’ve been missing beautiful, attacking football for a long time,” he explained.
“Rivero gained the fans’ trust, but unfortunately, the fourth goal cost you 50 million pounds. Al-Ahly was very unlucky in the tournament,” added the former Egypt goalkeeper.
“Yasser Ibrahim, their most important defender, was injured, and before him Imam Ashour, and Wissam Abu Ali scored a hat-trick, and suddenly he suffered a hamstring injury and left the field early, while he was at the peak of his brilliance, dribbling past them with his right and left feet.”
