Cardoso Calls For VAR After Cup Exit

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has reiterated his stance, calling for VAR implementation in the PSL after his side was sent packing by Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup semi-finals on Sunday evening.

The Brazilians were subjected to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Amakhosi, falling to goals from Wandile Duba and Ashley du Preez, whose goal the Downs mentor firmly believes was offside. The former Stellenbosch FC talisman scored the decisive goal in the 89th minute.

Cardoso is adamant Chiefs’ winning goal was not legitimate and shouldn’t have stood as he attributes their elimination to what he’s convinced was a costly error from the officials. The Chloorkop-based outfit still has a chance for silverware in the Betway Premiership and the CAF Champions League.

“Look, I don’t like these moral victories, today [Sunday] we come out of the competition because of a mistake from the referees point of view, this is what needs to be told, and this is what we need to stand for,” said Cardoso.

While he acknowledges that his charges didn’t play their best game, Cardoso says their continental clash against Esperance de Tunis just before an important domestic cup semi-final may have weighed down on his players.

“It was not our best game; no, it was not our best game. But also, you know, after playing Champions League matches, after taking the emotions to the highest level, after dealing with all the difficulties that we have – it’s always tough to play these [domestic] matches – no excuses,” he added.

“We should have done better; we can do better. But let’s not penalize ourselves too much. I don’t think we get more energy out of a loss. I think that we can learn, but learning requires giving 100% effort because it seemed like there were moments when we didn’t give 100%.

“I think we should have started stronger; we should have started with more capacity inside the pitch, but in the end, the result has nothing to do with that. The result has to do with one mistake that gives the equalizer.”

The Portuguese tactician went on to state that his team deserves to be in the final over Nasreddine Nabi’s men as they fought for it but were victims of an injustice. The 52-year-old lamented the lack of VAR in the South African top-flight – an issue he has been vocal about since he arrived in the country.

“It’s tough to win everything, obviously we wanted to take ourselves to the last stage of the competition and we should be there, and we should be there eventually because we have quality for that, because we fought for that, but we were not allowed to play that extra time,” Cardoso continued.

“Maybe our sponsors in the future can at least provide VAR in the semi-finals at least so that there’s a fairer game played because it’s important in this stage of the competition. I remember last year in Tunisia, the first phase of the championship had no VAR, but the playoffs had VAR – all matches.

“And that is fair for football because sometimes decisions are made on people’s lives because of a mistake that had nothing to do with us because we were doing our job. So, what can I tell my players now? We lost because there was a big mistake.”