Pitso after Ahly's defeat to Palmeiras: 'They were fresher, you could see the difference'

Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane was disappointed his team could not improve on last year's third position with a place in the final after Tuesday night's 2-0 semifinal defeat to Palmeiras in the Club World Cup where the odds were stacked against the African champions.

Mosimane pointed to the fixture structure that favoured the South American club who were able to come straight into the semifinal at Abu Dhabi's Al Nayan Stadium “fresher and stronger”. Ahly had to play their 1-0 second-round win against Mexico's Monterrey on Saturday night.

Before the match Mosimane questioned why Palmeiras were able to go straight to the semis when Ahly beat them in last year's third-place playoff.

That was not the only factor leaving Ahly back-pedalling in the tournament. Fifa's controversial scheduling clash meant Ahly played Monterrey without six internationals still on duty for losing finalists Egypt in Sunday's Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final against Senegal in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Ahly received back five internationals for the semifinal — goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy was injured at the Afcon match. But those players would have been affected by weariness from travel and all four of Egypt's knockout stage matches in Cameroon going to extra time.

Mosimane started only two of his Egypt stars, Amr el Solia and Ayman Ashraf, against Palmeiras, while Mohamed Sherif and Hamdi Fathi came off the bench.

“We hoped to be in a better position this year than last year. But we are in the same position that we were in at this stage at the semifinals and coincidentally the same score,” a disappointed Mosimane said after the game.

“We have to improve, and that really means we haven't improved in that sense.”

Goals on either side of the break by Raphael Veiga (39th minute) and Dudu (49th) had Ahly reeling. The Red Devils pushed to get back into the game and struck the post, plus they had VAR decisions on a penalty and an offside goal go against them.

Frustration showed as Ashraf was sent off in the 81st.

“I think we could have started more forward, but we gave them too much respect. We were more forward with 10 against 11 [at the end]," Mosimane said.

“We are disappointed because we let ourselves down with the red card. And that was the time when the team had momentum, hoping that we could get a goal.

“We looked like we would score. We got a ball off the post and it looked like a penalty, but I can't say. If VAR also thinks it's not a penalty then we have to respect that.

“We started a bit late in the second half. Immediately after we conceded [the second] goal, that’s when we started to play stronger.

“What can you do? We played a good team. And they were a bit stronger and a bit fresher.

“The last game they played was on February 2 and the last game we played was three days ago, so you could see the difference in terms of intensity.

“We played well in the second half — but in patches, not all the time.”

Ahly will aim to at least match the 2020 edition's third place when they meet most likely Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal — who face Chelsea in Wednesday night's semifinal — in Saturday's playoff match.

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