Cardoso Blames Fatigue For Ndamane Mistakes Ahead Of CAF Final

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has admitted that centre-back Khulumane Ndamane is struggling with fatigue due to a demanding run of matches and the intensity he has faced, following his costly mistake in Saturday’s win over Siwelele at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

Ndamane, who joined Sundowns from TS Galaxy during the January transfer window, made an error that led to Siwelele’s first goal after Sundowns had raced into a 3-0 lead within the opening 30 minutes.

His casual back pass was intercepted by Siphesihle Jeza, who squared the ball to Lungu to score. Lungu eventually completed a hat-trick in the match.

However, Brayan Leon matched Lungu’s tally with a hat-trick of his own — his first in the PSL — as Sundowns secured a dramatic 7-4 victory.

It was the second costly error from Ndamane in recent weeks, after he conceded a late penalty in Sundowns’ 1-1 draw with Stellenbosch FC at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

The situation has been compounded by the absence of Keanu Cupido, who suffered a serious injury in last week’s 1-1 draw against Kaizer Chiefs.

That leaves Cardoso short of defensive options ahead of next weekend’s first-leg CAF Champions League final against FAR Rabat at Loftus.

“Yeah, it’s clear that he’s tired, very clear. He’s not so reactive, he’s not so agile — he’s tired, it’s true,” said Cardoso.

“Anyway, he’s the only left-footed centre-back we have. We decided to play him again today [Saturday], but it’s clear that he’s tired — not only physically, but mentally as well.

“The capacity to make a tactical or technical decision is sometimes delayed a little bit. For example, you saw today that he missed a pass that led to the first goal because he was late with the decision.

“He could have made it quicker, but that’s probably also because of accumulated fatigue.

“It’s something I have to take into consideration, especially considering what we have ahead. We’ll see.

“As you may imagine, we just lost Keanu [Cupido], Mothobi Mvala is not yet able to play, and of course we still have Kegan Johannes, who is a player we trust.

“Today [Saturday] I wanted to give him game time, I confess. He was not going to start the match, but I wanted to use him. He didn’t start because, as you know, Grant [Kekana] had missed a few matches before, and Grant could not play in the CAF Champions League because he was suspended.”

Sundowns will conclude their Betway Premiership campaign — with the title race no longer entirely in their hands — against Ndamane’s former club Galaxy at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday.

“I fully intended to use Kegan, and I even told him to prepare,” Cardoso continued.

“But I saw that Aubrey was struggling, and I felt that keeping Aubrey in the match would help protect that left side.

“Unfortunately, we still conceded goals.”