Sundowns coach Cardoso turns attention to league after securing Champions League final spot

After Mamelodi Sundowns qualified for their third Champions League final, coach Miguel Cardoso immediately turned his attention to the bread-and-butter business of the Betway Premiership.

The Brazilians will take on Egyptian side Pyramids FC in a two-legged final next month, starting in Pretoria, as they look to lift the continental title for the first time since 2016.

In the domestic league, Sundowns lead the rearranged log standings with 58 points from 23 matches after Royal AM were thrown out of the league, with Orlando Pirates in second position.

Pirates have 46 points and three games in hand which may come in handy during the critical stage of the campaign in the coming weeks.

For Cardoso and Sundowns, they return to league action on Wednesday to take on Richards Bay at Loftus and their busy schedule continues with a trip to Cape Town City on Saturday.

Sundowns will be looking to get as many points as possible before they return to the Champions League to host the first leg of the final against Egyptian side Pyramids on May 24 at Loftus.

Cardoso's mission over the coming weeks of the league will be to maintain their advantage at the top of the log over chasing Pirates.

“I am happy that we gave this experience to the club and supporters but let’s think about the league championship that we have ahead of us because there are important matches coming over the next few weeks, said Cardoso after the 1-1 semifinal second leg draw with Al Ahly which was good enough to see them progress to the final on the away goals rule.

“Surprisingly, our match on Sunday has been moved to Saturday and we now have a match on Wednesday and then again on Saturday and again on Wednesday.

“It is important that South African people, heads of sports and football understand that we defend the country so well.”

In the share of the spoils with Al Ahly in Cairo Cardoso, who started the match with no recognised striker, explained his shock decision.

He left Peter Shalulile, Iqraam Rayners and Arthur Sales on the bench and started with an attacking trio of Thapelo Morena, Lucas Ribeiro and Tashreeq Matthews.

“It had to do with the characteristics of Al Ahly players. We knew their centrebacks are strong on contact and we wanted to tire them and work on the spaces. We knew mobility would help us and that’s what we did.”

Cardoso said it was a difficult decision to leave Shalulile, Rayners and Sales out of the starting line-up.

“It was a tough decision to leave out players like Peter, Iqraam and Arthur but football is not played by players but ideas. When players interpret ideas of the coach it becomes simple.

“We knew that we could use those players in the right moments of the game and that’s what we did to bring in aggressivity and profit from the fatigue that we put on the defence of Al Ahly.

“Also in football there is a moment where you need luck but we deserved it because we scored and after that it was a matter of managing the game until the final whistle.”