Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has lauded the performance of his fringe players, who stepped up in their Nedbank Cup quarterfinal victory against Sekhukhune United on Friday.

The Brazilians secured a hard-fought win at Lucas Moripe Stadium, with Jayden Adams scoring the decisive goal.

Cardoso’s starting lineup featured players like Zuko Mdunyelwa, Terrence Mashego, Keano Cupido, Neo Maema, and Matias Esquivel, all of whom have seen limited game time this season.

The coach was compelled to rotate his squad due to the late return of his international players from Bafana Bafana’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Benin.

With minimal recovery time, Cardoso opted to rest his key players, particularly with a crucial CAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg clash against Esperance looming on Tuesday.

“We believe in all the players, and I will not come here and say that then when we play you see the same players who are always playing,” Cardoso said.

“If I can do that I think that will be not a good thing, and players believe in what coach does. In the first half of the extra time, I reminded them that they must forget we scored a goal in the last minute of the 90 minutes, so we can score in the last minute of the extra time and we did that.

“We trust the players even though we scored in the last minute of the game because players who don’t usually get game time will not play like someone who is always playing. But we must also appreciate the good work from our fitness coach because these players managed to play 120 minutes even though they are not used in playing.

“But we had players that asked to be taken out like Keano [Cupido] and Terrence [Mashego] because they were struggling. But we need to understand that Keano is coming back from injury and we believe in him.’ 

“Terrence also is coming to the national team two weeks back, and he played two games there, so we must understand and just believe in them because if you are playing for Sundowns, that means you have qualities.

“We saw good signs. Zuko [Mdunyelwa] is coming back from an injury, and he managed to do a great job as well. We also knew that we have a bench that will put extra energy, but also my intention was not to use them because I wanted all fringe players to play 90 minutes.”

Adding to the positive outcome, Cardoso expressed relief that all his international players returned from national duty without injuries. He attributed this to the strong relationship between Mamelodi Sundowns and the Bafana Bafana coaching and fitness staff.

“It’s fantastic that we received all our players in good condition without injuries from the national team,” he said.

“I think that’s very good, and it speaks about the relationship we have with the national team. The relationship that we have with the national team is both with the side of fitness coaches and also with the coaches as well, the relationship is very good.

“This is the way that I think things should be done, so I congratulate the coach of the national team on the results he achieved during the international break.”