Cardoso backs Leon to rediscover form by putting Sundowns first

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has urged Brayan Leon to concentrate on his contribution to the team rather than feeling under pressure to score, as he backs the Colombian striker to recover his confidence.

Leon made an immediate impact after joining Sundowns from Colombian club Independiente Medellin in January last year. He ended the previous campaign with 15 goals and two assists in 26 appearances.

However, the forward has found it harder to reproduce that form this season, with three goals and one assist from 13 matches.

Cardoso believes Leon will regain the confidence and freedom needed to perform at his best, while stressing that goals should follow a striker’s wider work for the team rather than become an overriding concern.

“Brayan Leon will find for sure the right mindset for and the right stability and the right freedom to play with without pressure, because a player that plays with the pressure to score, you don’t have to score. You don’t have to score,” Cardoso said.

“He has to fight a lot. Because if he fights a lot, if he plays for the team, if he understands the behaviors, we won’t. If not him, other one will score the goals we need. Because we’ve been scoring more goals than ever,” he added.

The Sundowns manager acknowledged that he would prefer all of his strikers to score regularly, but said the team’s overall attacking output was the more important measure.

“We are in the league in the highest ever in the last I don’t know many many many years, as you stated in the press. So for a coach, obviously I would like to see all the strikers scoring, but I want to see the team scoring, the team scoring, and we’ve been doing that consistently. So it’s quite okay.”

Cardoso’s comments come as Sundowns prepare to face Durban City in the league this weekend.

That match will be followed by the CAF Super Cup the following week, before Sundowns’ final fixture ahead of the next FIFA International break.