Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller was frustrated after dropping two points against Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League and also revealed why the Egyptian giants changed penalty takers.
The Red Devils turned the game from 1-0 to 2-1, in less than 10 minutes in the second half but gave the three points away when Thapelo Morena equalised to make it 2-2 in the 80th minute.
The goal earned Downs a massive point away from home, leaving Koller frustrated after the final whistle.
“Very disappointed with the result. We simply wasted a lot of chances,” Koller told the media as per KingFut.
“We went a goal behind and then we were able to turn the game around, but we conceded an unnecessary goal in the end.”
The 10-time CAF Champions League winners had a glorious opportunity to get on the scoresheet, even before their first goal when Percy Tau earned a penalty for a foul by Mothobi Mvala inside the box but Mohamed Hany missed the spot-kick thanks to a great save by Ronwen Williams.
Usually Ali Maaloul has been Al Ahly’s designated penalty taker but he missed a spot-kick against Flamengo at the FIFA Club World Cup, with Koller explaining why they switched to Hand.
“Our opponents watch our games, and if the same player continues to take all of our penalties, their goalkeepers will be able to predict the ball’s direction,” he added.
“Before every game, I choose three penalty takers and tell them that whoever feels up for it must be the one to take it.
“Mohamed Hany never missed a penalty in training and has wonderful technique, but as we all saw, training is different from competitive games.
“But it’s also not the first penalty we missed this season. Ali Maaloul has missed in the past as well as Mohamed Magdy Afsha.”
Al Ahly have now collected just one point from their opening two games, but have a chance to get three more before the reverse fixture against Downs, when they will face Cotonsport on Saturday.
