Al Ahly legend Wael Gomaa has slammed coach Marcel Koller over his treatment of Percy Tau following their loss to Mexican side Pachuca in the Intercontinental Cup.
The Cairo Red Devils lost the match 6-5 on penalties, after the shootouts went to sudden death, but the Egyptian giants had an opportunity to win it earlier.
Gomaa’s bone of contention is that Tau was not among the designated players in the first shootout before it went to sudden death as he feels the forward would have given them the best possible opportunity to win on penalties earlier.
Gomaa hits out at Marcel Koller
The Bafana Bafana forward did take a penalty and score but he was not slotted among the first five with Koller preferring Mahmoud Kahraba instead.
“Marcel Koller bears a large part of the loss, just as the coach is praised. After winning tournaments, he must bear responsibility for losing,” said Gomaa as quoted by ysscores.
“The biggest blame is on Kohler. He pushed Kahraba, who was not quite ready, and took out Wissam Abu Ali, and also let him shoot the penalty kicks before Percy Tau, who was ready and had his foot on the field.
“In the coming period, we are entering a great period and very strong tournaments, and unfortunately we have missed the opportunity of our lives today.”
Will Tau end the season at Al Ahly?
The incident brought to the fore the tensions between Koller and Tau which have been simmering since the back end of last season.
Koller has already made Tau surplus to requirements at Al Ahly and hardly plays him but the club has so far failed to find a better way to offload him.
Their offer of paying him half of his wages for the remainder of the season has been rejected by the ex-Mamelodi Sundowns star who is demanding a full payment before an exit. Tau is in the final months of his contract with Al Ahly.
