Photo Credit - Mamelodi Sundowns.
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has called for total focus when his side face Kaizer Chiefs in a Betway Premiership fixture at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgevile on Saturday.
The Brazilians will head into the battle sitting top of the 16-team league table with 51 points from 19 matches while Amakhosi, who have been blowing hot and cold this campaign, are lying eighth with 25 points from 18 outings.
Having won the first round meeting 2-1, Cardoso has refused Sundowns to be tagged as the favourities for the game insisting only the right mentality will help his side to return home with maximum points.
“In me there is no lack of ambition, never. If I take the tag of favourites in this match, I will be passing the energy to my players and they don’t need that. There are no favourites when the whistle starts,” said Cardoso as quoted by Sowetan.
“You go there to show what you have and in the end that’s when you say you were favourites, but not before the match. I want the right attitude from the beginning. If you give 100% you can win everything and if you give 99% you can lose everything — you can lose because of that 1%. If I allow the players not to give 100% it will give me discomfort because I always want my players to be at their best.
“I want that without pressure, just to understand by themselves how they need to be and that is what has been happening.”
The latest fixture comes only three days after Sundowns pulled an emphatic 4-2 win against Sekhukhune United at Old Peter Makoba Stadium on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Chiefs' last fixture in all competitions was a league game on February 18, against SuperSport United which they suffered a 4-1 defeat at FNB Stadium.
Asked whether Chiefs will have the advantage having rested and prepared for the game for the last eleven days, Cardoso responded: “I don’t know what they have been doing during this period, I cannot say whether it was good or bad [for them].
“What I know is that their coach always works hard to develop his team. He knows what he has ahead of him, the responsibility of his club — he is a clever man and he is a quality coach. In the last days of this period leading up to our match, he will worry about us but before that he only worried about himself and how he is going to get the team better.”
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