Rabat – Al Ahly Manager Pitso Mosimane shared his strong sentiments towards African football and the continental league’s leadership in a press conference on Friday. The former South African midfielder and much-lauded coach said that Africa’s top competition is “50 years away” from the European Champions League, and that the league’s organization is to blame.
Mosimane pointed to the last-minute CAF decision to host the final match of the competition in Morocco and the lack of video replay in the latter stages of the competition, describing the continent’s football as “bad, bad, bad.”
The South African coach was commenting following his team’s 2-0 defeat in the African Champions League final against Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca. Mosimane again raised Al Ahly’s earlier complaints that CAF should not have decided to play the final in Morocco, the home country of one of the finalists.
Mosimane further highlighted that while several leagues on the continent offer VAR (video review) technology, including the Egyptian, Algerian and Moroccan leagues, Africa’s top competition does not deploy the technology in its group stages.
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“When are we going to have VAR in the group stages of the Champions League?” the South African asked as he lamented the slow pace of change within African football.
Mosimane is facing pressure regarding his position as head coach of Al Ahly. The now 83-year old team legend Taha Ismail on Thursday said that “Mosimane must leave the club. it’s over. He shouldn’t keep his position until the end of the season.”
The embattled South African coach has been anything but quiet after his team’s defeat in Casablanca, insisting that “the best team is the one who lost,” and giving his silver medal to a photographer, saying “don’t give me a silver medal, I don’t want it.”
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