Cardoso praises Mailula’s impact after Sundowns draw with Chiefs

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has praised Mailula’s attitude and maturity after the African champions fought back to draw 1-1 with Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium.

Sundowns had to recover from falling behind after making a delayed start to their season. The result followed their midweek victory over TS Galaxy in their opening match, but they were unable to build on that win with another three points against Chiefs.

Mailula came off the bench to score the equaliser and rescue a point for Masandawana. The forward had also made a decisive contribution in Sundowns’ MTN8 quarter-final against Polokwane City a week earlier, coming on as a substitute before scoring the winner in extra time.

Cardoso was particularly pleased with the player’s response in both matches, describing him as someone who is happy to contribute and deeply connected to the club.

“it’s a wonderful boy first of all that loves the club, group, ambience. He is a happy guy; you give him five minutes he goes happy that usually brings good things back.

“I’m so happy because of that he is a mature player also. He feels the moments in regarding the goal, today was beautiful. I’m happy for him.”

The Sundowns manager also felt the match in Johannesburg offered plenty of credit to both teams, highlighting the quality and sporting nature of the contest.

“First of all, it’s important to say it was a very beautiful football match, sometimes we complain, today we should say bravo. Beautiful football game, played with fair play a tough match but fair play from both sides,” Cardoso told SuperSport TV post-match.

He said Sundowns had controlled much of the first half and believed they had done enough to deserve more from the game. Chiefs had taken the lead after a mistake, leaving the visitors to chase an equaliser before finishing strongly in search of a winner.

“A lot of commitment, obviously a lot of energy, I think we deserved a little bit more, we had control of the match in the first half, I think we totally managed the match. We suffered a goal from a mistake; we had to run again try to go for a draw and we finished the game in the top trying to score the second goal.

“I reinforce – bravo on the football we saw today. Bravo from my players, a lot of capacity, a lot of quality football we saw today. Important to understand that this team is a team that’s being rebuild.

“We lost Keanu, Tebza now, we lost Jayden, Arthur and Nuno Santos and the team is sustaining, I’m obviously happy by what I saw and it’s important when someone falls the other one should rise so bravo good, beautiful football afternoon,” he added.

The draw leaves Sundowns having needed Mailula’s late influence to avoid defeat in consecutive matches, while Cardoso stressed that the squad is continuing to cope despite the players they have lost.