Ricardo Soares pays heavy price for lack of immediate success at Al-Ahly

Football is cruel at times. On Monday, just prior to the final game of the Egyptian Premier League season, Ricardo Soares was asked whether it would be his last as head coach of Al-Ahly.

“Why would it be? It’s the last game of this season,” he said. “But now we prepare for the next.”

On Wednesday the Portuguese tactician was fired. He had been in the job for just two months.

“The club would like to thank Soares and his assistants for their service and we wish them all the best in the future,” Al-Ahly said in a statement. And that was that.

Soares was appointed in June and knew as the season came to an end, that his job was under threat. “I am proud of the time I spent with Al-Ahly so far, I accepted playing youth-team players and I know that the club doesn’t tolerate disappointing results.”

It is certainly true that the most successful club in Egypt and Africa has a low threshold for what it considers to be disappointing results. Pitso Mosimane knows all about that. He was appointed in September 2020 and delivered two African Champions League titles, to take the club’s tally to 10. He also made the final in May though the Red Giants lost to Morocco’s Wydad AC. Even with such success, the South African had to deal with plenty of criticism from former players.

Such continental commitments made it hard for Al-Ahly to challenge at home. In 2021, they finished four points behind bitter rivals Zamalek and by the time Mosimane left in May, Al-Ahly were in third with Zamalek again leading and Pyramids in second. Bringing in Soares was a last-ditch attempt to get back into the top two.

Under Soares, the 10-time African champions won just seven of their 14 league games, not terrible but not good enough for a team such as