Victory over Sundowns earned us respect - Ahmed Ramhdan
Published: Monday, 11 November 2024
If there was any doubt about FC Masar’s level of competitiveness ahead of the CAF Women’s Champions League, it has certainly subsided over the last 24-hours after the Egyptian side sent shockwaves across the continent with a 1-0 win over Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies on Sunday in Casablanca.
The Egyptian side who operate one of the best women’s football academies on the continent put up a top tier performance against the defending champions to send a strong statement of intent to their other Group B opponents.
Speaking after Sunday’s historic win that was courtesy of a first half penalty conversion by forward Sandrine Niyonkuru, FC Masar coach Ahmed Ramhdan said the team remains humble in victory, but also pointed out that their performance has earned them respect in the tournament.
“It was important that they understood that the game was far from over and remain concentrated at all times. We had to play a lot more on the ground and be able to connect more passes to keep possession and I think they did it quite well. They defended quite well. It was important that we get the result, but we must remain grounded and I believe we earned a lot of respect from Sundowns through this performance” said the coach.
Commenting on the team’s preparations for their more fancied opponents, Ramhdan said that they worked a lot on analysing their opponents and built a game plan accordingly, which worked wonders for them.
“We all know that they are one of the top two teams in Africa with good players, so we are proud of what we did. We worked really hard for the game, and we knew that it would be a tough game against a good team with great players, but I think the training and our analysis of them helped us understand the game plan which we executed, and we are so happy and proud of the game” concluded the coach.
Masar occupy second spot behind Edo Queens who easily brushed aside Central Bank of Ethiopia FC on the same afternoon by 3-0 to go top of Group B.
Up next for the Egyptian side is a tie against the high in confidence Queens on Wednesday evening at 19h00 Local Time.
