Photo Credit - Mamelodi Sundowns Media.
With South Africa national team Bafana Bafana set to assemble on Monday, March 17, for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso believes their Betway Premiership fixture against Orlando Pirates should have been played on Saturday, instead of Sunday.
According to the PSL fixtures, the two South African giants will face off in the second round fixture of the league which holds more significance as the two sides are battling in the race to win the league title this season on Sunday.
Already Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos as summoned his squad for the qualifiers, with Sundowns and Pirates having players in the list. According to Cardoso, players are not machines but human beings, who need to enough time to rest hence why the game should be been played on Saturday to allow them humble time to link up with Bafana camp.
“For example, it’s not good that this match was put on Sunday because the players will go to the national team immediately after the match,” said Cardoso as quoted by FARPost.
“Players will not even have one day to rest, that’s why the match should have been played on Saturday so that the players can be respected in terms of how they have to rest and play at a good level for the national team.
“Football players are not machines; they are human beings that have families, social life and their physicality that should be respected. And sometimes we demand performance from players when they are dying, even when they are not capable of performing at the best level.”
Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, Khuliso Mudau, Aubrey Modiba, Mothobi Mvala, Grant Kekana, Teboho Mokoena, Bathusi Aubaas, Jayden Adams, and Iqraam Rayners are among Sundowns players in Bafana squad.
“It’s an incredible pleasure for the club, myself and the whole staff that we have such a big number of players in the national team. That’s what we work for, and I’m happy that we also have players in the Under-20 national team, and also we had another player in the CHAN [squad],” explained Cardoso.
“So that is a clear indication of our work because our players are self-promoted individually at a level that allows them to be called up and represent South Africa.
“Obviously, this comes with an impact, and an impact of this is that we’re going to play the CAF Champions League and Nedbank Cup, and we have to cope with the fact that if those players play in the two matches for Bafana Bafana, we have to take care of them. We cannot now tell the national team coach [Hugo Broos] not to select our players because we feel proud that they’re are there.”
Sundowns won the first round meeting 4-1 and Pirates will be keen to avenge when they face off at FNB Stadium.
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