Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso hopes to grind results on home turf in the final round of group games to secure qualification to the CAF Champions League quarterfinals.
Cardoso’s Mamelodi Sundowns face MC Alger this weekend, a match that could determine the South African outfit qualification chances, having shared the spoils in the penultimate match against ST Eloi Lupopo in Lubumbashi.
A lose against the Algerians may end their hopes of making it to the knockout stage of the competition.
“We have a match to play that we would always play to win; we don’t play to draw. When you play to draw, you usually lose,” Cardoso said after the 1-1 draw against Lupopo.
“We have to be brave enough to face the next match. We already played MC Alger, and it will be a difficult match, but there is a difficult test for strong people. So we are playing in front of our public [fans], and I hope they understand they have to support us, come in numbers, put in the energy, and help us.
“We have to find ways to play this match so that the opponent doesn’t know how we play, so that we can approach the match in the right way and at the end go through in the competition.”
The South African champions dropped points for a second successive match, leaving the group balanced ahead of the final round of the games. The race for quarterfinal qualification has really intensified following stalemate between Lupopo and Sundowns.
The draw leaves Sundowns with work to do heading into the final group match, while Lupopo’s resilience keeps them firmly in the qualification conversation.
After five games, Sundowns occupies third spot in Group C with six points, while Saint Eloi Lupopo sit bottom with five points.
Meanwhile, Al Hilal remain top of the group with eight points, followed by MC Alger, who has seven points after five games.
