Photo Courtesy Sundowns Media.
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has explained why they derserved to beat AS Maniema in their Caf Champions League fixture on Saturday.
The Brazilians came from a goal down to win 2-1 and enhance their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals from Group A. Kitambala Bola stunned Sundowns with the opening goal for Maniema in the 38th minute.
However, Sundowns fought and earned their win with two lates goals courtesy of Peter Shalulile in in the 83rd minute and an own goal via Moanda in added minutes of the stoppages.
“We were clearly the better team and we deserved to win with the work our boys did in the full period of the match,” said Cardoso, who became the first Sundowns coach in over 23 years to win a game from a goal down (1-0) away in the group stages, as quoted by idiskitimes.
“I think we were highly penalised by the score at half-time, it’s difficult to play here and it’s obvious by the results Maniema [achieve], they don’t suffer many goals here, it’s a team that you can have possession against but they always find a way out the press due to the direct style of football.”
Cardoso continued: “Sometimes it’s difficult to cope with that, but we played our style that we create our own moments, we did that and if we analysed what we did in the first half, it was important to keep the emotions and try and increase the level of pace inside the pitch, in terms of players in front, creating moments [for scoring].”
On his game plan, Cardoso said: “We broke our way of playing a bit because we were not connecting in the first half and a bit in the second half, but we were more dangerous later. Not always by the right way of playing but by the right intentions and the right spirit, we fought and were rewarded.”
The win saw Sundowns move second with eight points, one less group leaders AS FAR. Sundowns will host FAR in their final group match on Sunday, January 19.
Comments