“Rebuilding Phase”: Cardoso Reveals Why Gallants Will Test Sundowns At Loftus
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso expects a demanding encounter when the African champions face Marumo Gallants in their third Betway Premiership match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Wednesday.
Sundowns will be looking to return to winning ways after dropping points against Kaizer Chiefs over the weekend. The Brazilians opened their league campaign with a victory over TS Galaxy before being held to a 1-1 draw by Chiefs in their second match.
Cardoso expects Gallants to pose a different challenge, particularly with their ability to threaten Sundowns in transition and exploit spaces behind the defence.
“I think the match against Marumo will be in line with the PSL matches we play at home,” he said.
“Teams always have the capacity to attack us in transition, using a line-up that reinforces their strategy and trying to prevent us from playing in the spaces where we are usually very strong.
“Teams select players with speed to attack us in transition and try to catch us after a mistake or when we lose the ball and are not positioned well to deal with the transition.
“They especially play long balls behind our defenders on the sides to make them move wide, and then try to appear inside, use someone in a one-on-one situation, make an entry into the box or have a shot.
“Look, these teams are capable of playing football, of course, in the moment, and sometimes it is more a mindset issue rather than an incapacity. Big respect for Marumo. We know that it is always a tough match.
“We need to be at our best, as always, at a moment when our team is also going through a rebuilding process, let’s say. I would also like to thank the management of Marumo Gallants very much for allowing us to play the match at the moment we are playing it.”
The fixture was originally scheduled to be Sundowns’ opening league match of the campaign but was postponed. Cardoso expressed his appreciation to Gallants for their understanding and reflected on the circumstances surrounding the postponement.
“As you remember, it was the first PSL match, and at that moment we were still in the process of preparation, as happened. So, thank you very much for that understanding,” he added.
“It’s also important to highlight that. So, I think that’s the platform from which we stand for this match.
“Picking up the energy that we saw from the previous match and going with a level of commitment, a level of capacity and maximum power for the moment, we try to take a step forward in the quality of the game we want to play and maintain our focus in the match to achieve points, because we obviously need to do that.”
A victory would take Sundowns level on points with current league leaders Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and AmaZulu. However, Cardoso’s side would need a commanding 5-0 victory over Gallants to move to the top of the table.
