Al Ahly’s new Portuguese coach Soares will start his mission by leading the Red Devils against Petrojet in the 2020/2021 Egypt Cup semi-final today “Saturday, July 2nd”.
Al Ahly’s new Portuguese coach Jose Ricardo Soares, 47, announced that his main target with “the biggest team in Africa” is to achieve victory in all games and also improve the team’s playing style.
In an official press conference to introduce the new technical staff team, Soares said: “I am happy to represent the biggest team in Africa and one of the best teams in the world,”
“I know very well the responsibility of leading Ahly and I thank the management for their confidence to put me in charge of the team,” he added.
“I promise to add more for the team as they already achieved more trophies and we can add more for them.”
The Portuguese coach arrived in Egypt on Wednesday to finalise the deal with the Red Devils after his departure from leading Portuguese football team Gil Vicente.
He signed with Ahly, making his first-ever move away from coaching at home during his career, after reportedly paying €250,000 to release himself from his Gil Vicente contract.
During the press conference, Ghali confirmed that the team signed Soares for a two-year contract.
Ahly had been intensively looking for a new manager since the departure of South African coach Pitso Mosimane earlier this month.
“Ahly is a well-known team around the world. Moreover, I asked the previous coaches about their impression and I received positive answers,” the Portuguese coach said.
“Our main target is to claim more trophies with the team who already achieved more in history as we have to keep the team’s position on the top of the continent,” Soares added.
“We are here to win but we have to introduce good football as well.”
“We will do our best to improve the team’s playing style as there are more talented players in the squad,” Soares said.
“I am ready to meet the fans’ pressure as the coach who can’t work under pressure doesn’t deserve to continue in his career,” he said.
Ahly are third in the Egyptian Premier League table with 44 points after playing 20 games so far this season, with three games still in hand.
The Red Devils are seven points behind rivals Zamalek who played three games more.
FT Al Ahly 2-0 Petrojet | Egypt Cup
