Al Ahly coach Jose Riveiro: “We’re playing against Porto to win”

Al Ahly head coach Jose Riveiro affirmed that his team will face Portuguese side Porto on Tuesday with the aim of securing victory, stressing that the players will give their all on the pitch to achieve a positive result.

Al Ahly are set to face Porto in their second match of the group stage on Tuesday at 1:00 AM GMT, as part of the ongoing Club World Cup hosted in the United States.

Speaking during the pre-match press conference, as quoted by Al Ahly official website, Riveiro said:

“The players gave a great effort in the matches against Inter Miami and Palmeiras. The team will continue to give everything to win. The opportunity is still there to achieve a good result and advance to the next round.”

The former Orlando Pirates head coach added:

“Al Ahly will play tomorrow’s match for the dream of reaching the next stage. This is the identity of Al Ahly – a club that never gives up until the final whistle. We came to the U.S. to get good results. The players delivered solid performances at times, but it’s difficult to talk about the positives when we haven’t secured wins.”

“Qualification is still possible. Tomorrow, we will be a strong team and we will fight with everything we have to go through. We are aiming to deliver our best performance and hopefully win the match. I’ve been here for two weeks getting to know the players’ style and culture. They’re not happy with the recent results and understand the responsibility on their shoulders.”

Riveiro further explained:

“Against Inter Miami, we imposed our style in the first half but lost it in the second. Versus Palmeiras, the situation was different – we dominated most of the game and were the better side in the first half in both matches. But we couldn’t maintain that control in the second halves. Time has been short to analyze why, but we’ll work on it.”

“The 28 players on our squad are all starters in my eyes. Unfortunately, we lost Emam Ashour and Taher Mohamed Taher to injury, but we have quality players in the team. We won’t dwell on the absences – we’ll handle the situation professionally.”