Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso with midfielder Marcelo Allende, has assured The Brazilians that league proceedings will not affect their CAF Champions Legaue quest..
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Mamelodi Sundowns recently suffered a crushing ending to their domestic campaign, but coach Miguel Cardoso believes that won’t affect their CAF Champions League final against AS FAR Rabat in the next few days.
Sundowns concluded their league season with a 3-2 loss to TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership on Tuesday night, handing the advantage to Orlando Pirates to win the title if they win one of their last two games, due to a superior goal difference.
Given the fact that Sundowns are accustomed to winning the title, having done so in the last eight years, their looming barren domestic season is set to be a new experience for the team, who interestingly has all the talent money could buy at their disposal this season.
However, Cardoso hasn’t despaired just yet. He has backed his team to go full throttle for the Champions League, starting with the first leg at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon (4pm kick-off).
Winning both the league and Champions League would have been a welcome milestone for Sundowns, but they have to move away from the league and put all their efforts into continental football where they can still correct their season.
“It’s now time to get the energy as soon as possible for the weekend. The boys are surely going to show another proof of character. We’ll try to recover them as much as possible so that they can produce a good match in this Champions League final,” he said.
Had they beaten Galaxy away in the last game, Sundowns would have reached 71 points – the club’s second-highest points tally in a season. They have previously matched their record of 73 points accumulated in a season.
However, that wasn’t to be – Sundowns could only reach 68 points. Cardoso, though, was still impressed with their exploits, saying it would be a championship-winning run in another season.
“With the number of points that we have, in the last five years we would have been champions,” Cardoso said. “Now, we just have to wait and see what’s going to happen in the games that are still to be played by Pirates.
“It’s not that we had a bad season. If someone else becomes the champion, it simply means they had a better season.”
Sure, Pirates will have the highest points on paper and overall domestic success if they win the league, having already bagged the MTN8 and Carling Knockout, but Cardoso has questioned the series of events surrounding Pirates’ championship quest.
“I think also the red carpet was rolled out in front of them. It’s important to be fair and analyse what happened in the last few weeks,” Cardoso stated. “I want to recall that when we played Chiefs, we had Jayden Adams given a red card for simulation.
“That wasn’t a simulation, but a tackle. He was jumping to avoid a tackle. So, he was sent off and suspended in a moment when we needed him.
“We conceded a penalty in the last match. But we saw in the Pirates match that they were awarded a penalty through a simulation incident. So, the judgment throughout the season was very tough.”
Cardoso was notably upset that Magesi decided to take their home game against Pirates to the plush New Peter Mokaba Stadium for their league match recently, whereas they hosted Sundowns at the compact Seshego Stadium.
“In terms of the calendar and the pitches, you saw Pirates play in pitches where we didn’t play. We played Magesi where they took us to Seshego and the pitch was very small, but they took Pirates to a big and nice pitch to play football,” Cardoso said. “So, that’s the reality we have to face.”