Hussein Abdulghani opened fire on Marino Pusic following Al-Ahli's 1-2 defeat to South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns in the Intercontinental Cup. The former Al-Ahli and Saudi Arabia national team legend placed a large share of the blame for the team's downfall on the head coach after their striking second-half decline.
Al-Ahli had produced a distinguished level during the first half, in Abdulghani's view, but lost much of their strength after the break. Pusic was unable to deal with the flow of the game or exploit the spaces that appeared behind the Sundowns defence. His interventions did nothing to help the team return to their level.
"A painful defeat for the team," Abdulghani said on the "Nadina" programme. "In the first half Al-Ahli entered in wonderful fashion, but in the second half Pusic let the team down. He was resigned, did not react at all, and failed to exploit the spaces behind Sundowns."
He added: "I knew Sundowns would score. It was just a matter of time, and the coach's tactical interventions in the second half were strange. Brendarenko came into the game and was not good, and I do not know the reason for his involvement."
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The criticism did not stop there. Abdulghani argued that Pusic failed to read the atmosphere of the match and that his tactical decisions only deepened Al-Ahli's suffering rather than easing Sundowns' pressure. That led him to a clear position on the head coach's future.
"Pusic did not deal with the match logically. He was extremely poor," he said. "He is a cunning coach who is not good at dealing with the atmosphere of the match, and the coach's interventions caused harm to Al-Ahli."
On the question of Pusic's continuation, the former star settled his stance firmly. Nothing the coach delivered in recent weeks, he insisted, justified a return to the dugout, least of all after this defeat and the way he handled the game.
His parting message was blunt. "Pusic should not return with the team after the series of disasters he has committed," Abdulghani said, a direct swipe at the coach following the defeat that denied Al-Ahli a positive result against the African champions.
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