Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso expressed satisfaction with his team’s competitive display in their first-leg victory over AS FAR Rabat in the CAF Champions League final on Sunday.
The Portuguese tactician lamented missed chances that could have created a more comfortable advantage after Aubrey Modiba’s first-half free-kick gave them a 1-0 lead at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, noting they should have scored at least one more goal.
Cardoso urged the team to carry the same energy and defensive solidity into the second leg in Morocco, while improving offensive transitions to secure the trophy.
“Five I think it’s a bit too much and eventually not fair, but yeah, we should’ve scored one more goal and create a little bit better advantage and have one foot in the front. Anyway, we showed we can compete with this team as we compete with any other team,” Cardoso told SuperSport TV.
“We need to take the energy into the second match of course so that we can fight for the trophy. We should not drop any kind of energy because we didn’t score, the moment of decisions are upfront and we need to look at the second match.
“Be able to close our ears, forget what happens in the stands and play the football we can play whenever in the continent that’s what we need to do.”
However, Cardoso was happy with how the Betway Premiership champions were able to keep the defensive shape and managing the spaces on the transition against the Moroccan side.
“I think our defensive transition we were in most part of the game ok, we could control the spaces in our defence, it’s just more our offensive transition. It’s not easy to break this team on counter-attack, break-attacks because their full-back attack a lot,” he added.
“So, there were not much in terms of spaces. I think we had to manage the ball and take them inside to the other in order to increase and in that moment find spaces. Here and there were not able but we were in the major part of the game. That’s the mentality we need to take in the second match.”
The second leg is on Sunday, 24 May at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, where Sundowns need to maintain defensive solidity, improve their attacking transitions, and protect their slender 1-0 lead to lift the CAF Champions League trophy.
