Pitso hopeful Tau will be fit for Sundowns return

Pitso Mosimane hopes Percy Tau will be back playing for Al Ahly by the time they take on Mamelodi Sundowns in the Caf Champions League in Phokeng, on the weekend of March 11-13.

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A quadricep injury forced Tau to miss the Fifa Club World Cup, though he did travel to Abu Dhabi with the team, where Mosimane’s side won the bronze medal for a second successive year.

Tau, indeed, has not played for Ahly this year and is set to miss the resumption of the Champions League, with Ahly playing Sudan’s Al Hilal this weekend, before taking on Sundowns in Cairo on February 25.

The Ahly head coach explained that Tau was upset not to be able to play in the Club World Cup, which would have been another chance to showcase his talents to the world.

“I was in the room with Percy before the first match (of the Club World Cup). I could see he was motivated. I said to him ‘I know you came to play the world.’ I said to him ‘hey, help us in the Champions League,’” said Mosimane this week, in conversation with the South African Football Journalists Association.

“He was disappointed he didn’t have a chance at the World Cup, it was a chance to show the world that he should have been given a chance at Brighton.”

Tau joined English Premier League side Brighton from Sundowns in 2018, but spent his first two and a half seasons there on loan in Belgium, and even when he did get a work permit to play in England, the Bafana Bafana attacking star got very little game time.

He was reunited with Mosimane at Ahly at the start of this season.

“It was sad for me also (that he didn’t play at the Club World Cup), because this is why I bought him,” added Mosimane.

“Percy is a professional, he is a tiger, he will make at least the second game against Sundowns, we want him to help us win the Champions League.”