Champions of Africa Al Ahly are without as many as eleven players ahead of their opening match of the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup against Mexico’s Monterrey on Saturday.
Six of the absentees are all Egyptian nationals who are currently in Cameroon for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and will contest the grande finale against Senegal on Sunday.
The players are mainly Mohamed El-Shennawy, Ayman Ashraf, Mohamed Abdelmoneim, Hamdi Fathi, Amr El-Sulya, and Mohamed Sherif. Joining them are injured Percy Tau, Akram Tawfik, Salah Mohsen, Badr Benoun, and Ammar Hamdi.
After that, matters have gotten even worse for Al Ahly, with club head coach Pitso Moimane testing positive for COVID-19.
Al Ahly assistant manager Samy Komsan addressed the club’s difficult situation as they suffer major absences in their FIFA Club World Cup squad.
“Al Ahly goes into every tournament with great ambitions. Last year we won this place and the fans expect more of us right now,” Komsan said.
“We will aim high despite all the injuries we have in our ranks.
“The opening game is very important. If we win tomorrow, our players in the Egyptian national team will join us, which would give us a huge boost” he said on Friday.
“We also miss Mosimane who tested positive for COVID-19, we hope he can join us after his swab test tomorrow.
“We wish the tournament’s timing was different, we represent the whole continent not just our club.
“However, we won’t look for excuses and we will do our best with the resources we have.
“Al Ahly fully supports the national teams, we will always put Egypt first no matter what.
“I hope the national team can win their Africa Cup of Nations final, and after that our player can join us in the next game.”
When asked about absences in Monterrey ranks, Samy replied: “We fully respect our opponents but we only focus on ourselves.”
On 20 October 2021, the FIFA Council announced the United Arab Emirates as the host of the tournament, and postponed the event from late 2021 to early 2022.
Parts of this story was taken from Kingfut.com
