Cardoso Backs Mothiba To Rediscover Goalscoring Form At Sundowns
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has backed Lebo Mothiba to rediscover his goalscoring form after the striker’s struggles in front of goal continued in Sunday’s MTN8 defeat to Golden Arrows.
Mothiba started for the Brazilians as they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Arrows in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-final at Lucas Moripe Stadium, extending his difficult spell in front of goal.
Since joining Sundowns, the striker has struggled to rediscover his best form and has also fallen out of the Bafana Bafana squad. He scored just two goals in 23 appearances for the Brazilians in the league and at the FIFA Club World Cup last season.
Against Arrows, Mothiba was handed a starting role ahead of Brayan Leon and Iqraam Rayners as Cardoso searched for an attacking solution. However, the striker failed to find the back of the net as Sundowns went into the second leg with a 1-0 deficit.
Despite Mothiba’s continued struggles, Cardoso insists the coaching staff remain firmly behind the striker and are working hard to help him regain his confidence.
“As a coach, I’m trying to do my best for all the players,” he said.
“The coaching staff works very hard on showing belief in the players, and you saw how I supported him in a moment that was difficult because he missed, indeed, a situation where a goal could have happened, but it was not the only one.
“There were many throughout the match that didn’t result in goals. And when, last year or two years ago, I remember a period when Lucas Ribeiro was not scoring goals, and you were always speaking about that — how he could not score and not score and why.
“And then I felt one day they would come out and there would be one after the other, and it happened. A striker is always like that.
“Also, anyway, Lebo has not been the first option, as you know. Brayan Leon was, together with Iqraam Rayners, the first option.
“So it’s normal when a player doesn’t play so consistently that, when he comes into a match, it is more difficult to pick up the rhythm. Lebo, with his character, has had very good training matches and scored in them, so he gave us all the energy.
“And as you may understand, Brayan also came from a pre-season where he didn’t have the chance to train consistently, and we played three matches in a row. And so it was absolutely normal that we had to rotate that player because Brayan was too tired.”
While Mothiba started the match, Rayners was not included in the matchday squad. Tsiki Ntsabeleng was also left out, although neither player appeared on Sundowns’ official injury list.
Cardoso subsequently provided an update on Rayners, revealing that the striker was unavailable because of illness rather than injury.
“Iqraam, if he’s not on the medical report, it’s because the doctor forgot,” he added.
“Because on Saturday he appeared at the session with the flu, and he could not be selected. So he was not available for the match.
“Tsiki is in the process of being 100% okay. So he could have been called up. He was not selected as a technical option, but he’s already available to be put into play whenever he is needed.
“So what made us not select him was that we felt he still needs a little more training to be available. And we will always have a few players that will stay out, but these are completely different situations from one and the other.”
Mothiba will now be hoping to use the next opportunity to end his goalscoring drought when Sundowns return to Betway Premiership action.
The Brazilians host AmaZulu at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Wednesday, where Mothiba could once again be given an opportunity to lead the attack and prove that he can rediscover the form that made him an important striker for club and country.
