De Sa: Pirates can beat Al Ahly
Pirates will host the most successful club in the competition and on the continent in their Group A first leg clash at Orlando Stadium tomorrow at 3pm.
The two teams are worlds apart in their dominance of the competition, having Pirates won the crown only once in 1995 compared to the Egyptians’ 12 coronations.
However, they forged a fierce rivalry in 2013 as they met in the group stage and the final in which Al Ahly finished first on both occasions, while the Sea Robbers were runners-up.
Coached by De Sa then, Pirates drew 0-0 with Al Ahly at home in the group stage first leg before shockingly beating them 3-0 in front of the ‘Red Sea’ in the return leg.
The two sides again drew 1-1 in the first leg of the final in Orlando, but Al Ahly outmuscled the South Africans in the return leg in Cairo, winning 2-0 to win the tie and crown 3-1 on aggregate.
De Sa remembers that Champions League runs too well, but he believes that this Pirates side have enough tank in their arsenal to beat Al Ahly at home on Saturday.
“Absolutely,” said De Sa, backing Pirates to win on Saturday. “Number one, I think they’ve already got a good result in the group stage with that win (against CR Belouizdad) in Algeria.
“Any away game in Africa is tough. But of course, forget that first result – also Al Ahly drew their first game. Already they (Pirates) always have their heads in front – which is important.
“But now we are playing at home against Al Ahly, so of course they want to win because they have the quality. But I think Pirates are up for it. They can beat Al Ahly at home.”
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Pirates have been a dominant force on a domestic front as they retained their MTN8 crown and won seven games in a row for the first time in the PSL era in the Betway Premiership campaign.
Their only blemish was losing in the Carling Knockout final to Magesi and recently to Stellenbosch in the league. But De Sa still believes their model will work even in Africa.
“My view is that they must continue to play the way they play, and not drop to the speed because that won’t help them,” De Sa said.
“In my time when we played against these teams from Egypt, we had two approaches: fast and faster. They don’t like the fast game; they want to play at their tempo.”
Pirates really pushed Al Ahly to the edge in the two legged final. So much so that Thabo Matlaba who scored a late equaliser in the first leg remembers it like it was yesterday.
“We had pushed up as the full-back because we had left Andile Jali and Oupa Manyisa at the back,” Matlaba, speaking on pay-channel SuperSport, recalled.
“I can play even inside – I can invert. Even if you check that goal I came from the back and inverted inside. I have a powerful shot with both feet.
“I knew that if I could try my luck and take a shot maybe something would happen, and indeed it happened because it was a beautiful goal. I was then so emotional.”
And while Pirates didn’t get the win e’Sgodini, Matlaba says they felt they had done themselves and the country proud.
“We were very happy. I am not saying the recent Champions League is easy, but back then in 2013 we played a lot of tough teams. But they are not tough anymore,” Matlaba said.
“We knew that Al Ahly had experience, so when we managed to get a draw (here at home) I was happy. I was happy!”