Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has addressed his critics after his side drew with Orlando Pirates in Saturday’s high-profile Betway Premiership match.
Peter Shalulile opened the scoring to put Masandawana in the lead in the 20th minute, but Cemran Dansin netted Bucs’ equalising goal 10 minutes before half-time and ultimately, the two Gauteng giants drew 1-1 at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
As a result, Sundowns have scored just once in their last two matches in domestic competitions, including a defeat to Marumo Gallants in the Carling Knockout Round of 16 on October 4, which ended in a 0-0 draw, and Masandawana lost on penalties.
Cardoso, who is in his first full season in charge of Sundowns, has slammed ‘people’ who say he is a ‘defensive coach’ and discussed the challenges he faces as the club’s coach.
“You are looking the other way, not just one side, and I agree with that, we wanted to win, if you were in my locker room at half-time you would understand how much I pushed these guys to win this much, there’s no other mentality in myself,” the Portuguese tactician said.
“Despite what people say, you’re a defensive coach, that’s bullsh*t – so what I mean, it’s not true, we wanted to win the match and at half-time I was very hard on my players in terms of mindset, in terms of attitude, because for this match we had an expression all week.
“Nobody kills an attitude, and at half-time I said, Is that the attitude nobody is able to kill, the one we had when we conceded a goal, because I was a little bit of ‘what is in your mind guys’ after you suffer a goal,” he continued.
“Do you want to be brave or do you want to feel fear, because if you want to feel fear you won’t play at the level, you have to play – if you’re brave you can go for the match, to win it, and I think they were brave, they fought.
“So when you have Themba Zwane, Mothobi Mvala, Thapelo Morena, Miguel Reisinho, Teboho Mokoena, Divine Lunga, Kutlwano (Letlhaku), Malibongwe (Khoza) and you still have the kids studying their exams, obviously the team is not on the same level,” he added.
“But I don’t complain because what I saw from my players was character – so I go along with what you said, I think we saw character, we could have done better? Yes, do we believe we will do better? Yes, but probably two of the best teams were on the pitch [of South Africa.”
Cardoso will be determined to ensure that Sundowns bounce back to winning ways when they play host to TS Galaxy at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in another Betway Premiership match.
