Cardoso: It Was Not Difficult To Drop Suarez
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says the decision to drop Lucas Suarez was not difficult after the defender made a costly error in the Brazilians’ 2-1 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup semi-final.
In the aftermath of his blunder, the Argentine defender, who was a victim of Wandile Duba’s intelligent reading of the game, was dropped in the goalless draw against Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League semi-final first leg clash on Saturday.
Despite coming out to defend Suarez after their Nedbank Cup elimination, the Downs mentor claims the decision to exclude the player from the starting XI against the 12-time African champions was fairly an easy one to make.
“It was not difficult [to drop Suarez]; it was not difficult because first of all I’m a coach and I must make decisions, and I should do them when I need to do them,” said Cardoso, who has been tasked with taking Sundowns to even greater heights.
However, Cardoso says he reassured the 30-year-old center-back that he’s still part of the project before making the important decision to drop him but adamant Suarez will not just walk back into the star-studded team, stating it will happen naturally.
“But let me tell you, I told Lucas [Suarez] before the match started [vs Al Ahly], that I trust him more than last week because immediately after he made that mistake that unfortunately gave a goal to [Kaizer] Chiefs, he was heading up and moving forward on the training sessions and he reacted,” said the Portuguese-born coach.
“He had 10 minutes in the game that he was affected, it was clear he couldn’t hide it, but then he also appeared in the game, so he showed character. Argentinian guys, in general they have a lot of character in the right way, so I just believe he will stand up.
“Of course, as a coach I need to protect [him] and sometimes protecting a player is not allowing him to be exposed to the critics because [it can affect his confidence] but I will not allow that, no one will kill him for sure.”
The Portuguese tactician continued: “Believe me that Lucas will play again in the team and that will naturally happen. I just want you to remember that two weeks ago, when we played in Tunisia, and we had Mali Khoza entering the pitch to help the team in the last 20 or 15 minutes, and today [Saturday], he was not even on the list.
“And Mosa [Lebusa] was playing then he had a knock on the head I think it was in Golden Arrows I don’t remember exactly and he had a two or three-week period he couldn’t touch the ball with the head, so he had to step out and another one came in, so that’s how we relate with the moments.”
Masandawana face a daunting task to dig deep away from home in Cairo in the return leg of their CAF Champions League semi-final clash against defending champions Al Ahly on Friday, as they look to bring continental glory back to Chloorkop.
