Cardoso calls for greater control as Sundowns face decisive Wiliete second leg

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says his side needed greater control and more aggression in the penalty area after being held to a goalless draw by Wiliete in the first leg of their CAF Champions League qualifying tie.

The opening match was played in Benguela, Angola, with the second leg scheduled to take place in Pretoria on Friday. Sundowns, the defending champions, will need to win after failing to score an away goal.

Cardoso acknowledged the challenge posed by Wiliete, who are at the top of the Angolan championship alongside a team he compared with Petro Luanda.

“It’s important that we understand the level of opponent we are speaking about. This team is obviously states itself at the top of the log in the championship in Angola. It’s a team on the level of Petro Luanda and we know that it’s difficult to play away, but we knew that we had to be strong and committed with the intention on the match,” Cardoso told the Sundowns media department after the game.

The Portuguese coach said Sundowns had travelled with the intention of scoring and taking an advantage into the return fixture, but felt his players adapted to the circumstances rather than forcing their usual approach.

“But I think the team was clever enough to understand that in the moments that we could not play the way we wanted to play because it was difficult to deal with a team that just wanted to play long balls in the back of our defence, so (it) was quite difficult to press and counter press because they were very stretched on the pitch.”

Sundowns prepare for second-leg test

Although he was satisfied with the way his players responded to Wiliete’s tactics, Cardoso identified areas that needed improvement before Friday’s match.

“The team understood that it was important to adapt to that style of game. Obviously, I feel we could have done better, we could had more control and more aggression in the box, mostly in the second half,” said the CAF Champions League-winning coach.

Cardoso also noted signs of tiredness within the squad and said the immediate priority would be to allow the players to recover before preparing for the decisive match in South Africa.

“It was a little bit clear that there is some fatigue in the players. But now we rest, travel back to South Africa and prepare for the second match. Let’s focus on the second match. I think we will do a beautiful match in front of our supporters.”

With no away goal to protect or rely on, Sundowns know there is little margin for error when Wiliete visit Pretoria. The South African side must win the second leg to progress from the tie.