Cardoso stands firm on Sundowns’ cautious approach

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has defended his cautious approach in last Friday’s goalless CAF Champions League scrap against MC Alger. Despite securing a point away from home, Cardoso faced questions over his timid set-up at the Ali La Pointe Stadium, where the match failed to ignite.

Sundowns accused of lacking ambition

The tactical chess match drew criticism from sections of the Algerian media, who felt Sundowns lacked ambition. Cardoso, however, maintained that his side executed their plan correctly by prioritising balance over attacking football.

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“I understand the question regarding going hard in attack and trying to win but this is a competition where if you get a point away, you take two points away from the opponent,” he said.

“We knew that if we went with a lot of numbers upfront, we could suffer from that because this team is very dangerous when they have spaces to use. So, not allowing spaces means attacking with balance which allows us to always manage the result of the game. On the other side, it’s always interesting to see that people don’t sometimes give credit because Alger defended very well.

“They had the capacity to cope with our offensive game and they closed the middle by not allowing the ball to go to some of our players who are very important and forced us to go on the outside. We didn’t arrive in the box as many times as we wanted but it’s also clear that MC Alger didn’t enter ours in order to score.”

Sundowns remain top of Group C on goal difference, level on four points with Al-Hilal, who claimed a 1-1 draw away to Saint-Éloi Lupopo on Sunday. Cardoso also emphasised the contrasting demands of the Champions League compared to their Betway Premiership matches.

‘High quality players’

“This team (MC Alger) has high quality players upfront and any mistake can lead to a goal,” he added.

“In Champions League matches, it’s very important to be very clever. I think Sundowns was a very clever team on the pitch. If you see the match on the stands, a game with goals would be more spectacular.

“If we opened ourselves then maybe we could have scored more but we could suffer and at that moment, we wouldn’t have controlled the result. Sundowns did a good job and the players have to be congratulated because they controlled the match.”

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Masandawana now turn their attention back to domestic matters as they prepare for a league encounter against Siwelele FC at the Dr Molemela Stadium on Wednesday.