Celebrated South African coach Pitso Mosimane has sent an emotional goodwill message to Al Ahly legend Walid Soliman who has retired from professional football.
Walid announced his retirement from the Reds soon after Al Ahly’s emphatic 4-0 win over Cleopatra FC on Tuesday to end his 12-year romance with the team he joined from ENPPI.
In reaction, Mosimane recalled fondly how Walid remained a model of humility even though he did not feature him regularly during the 21-month tenure of the South African.
“Legend, I have never started you on any game, and yet you scored so many games for me. That’s the respect you gave me and the team. You remained the same man of honour even during tough times. Good Luck in your future endeavours. Al Ahly has a future in you. I Salute!” the former Mamelodi Sundowns mentor said.
“Genuine Respect to you, Legend! Educated Left foot! Jersey Number 11. I remember how sad you were when injuries made you miss last year’s FIFA Club World Cup, but I was happy that you played in this year’s World Cup, and you played all those games like a 19-year- old player.”
Mosimane bowed out of Al Ahly in June this year, citing work pressure, saying he wanted to go on a sabbatical to recharge.
The Egyptian powerhouse reacted by hiring highly-rated Portuguese mentor Ricardo Soares, hoping he could revive the team’s fortunes and salvage something from the season by winning the league title.
However, results did not improve as Zamalek cruised away with the title defence leaving Al Ahly to finish on third place.
It is the first time the Reds have finished the season outside the top-two positions on the Egyptian Premier League log table since 1992.
The poor domestic league performance cast doubt on the future of Soares.
However, Soares remains bullish, echoing his predecessor Mosimane’s remarks that the team struggled due to injuries and fatigue of regular players.
“We’ve performed an analysis on the whole team ever since coaching Al Ahly and realized that the team is not defensively solid enough. Moreover, we noticed that there are a lot of good players who suffer from fatigue.”
“Therefore, we took the right decision of resting the majority of the senior players and to play with our youngsters instead,” he said.
