Cardoso says Sundowns turned Durban City fatigue into a 4-1 advantage

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso said his side deliberately targeted Durban City’s lack of recovery time in their 4-1 victory at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday.

The result returned Sundowns to the top of the log table, with Thabang Matuludi scoring twice and Iqraam Rayners and Antonio van Wyk also finding the net. Jean Lwamba Lubamba scored Durban City’s goal.

Durban City are competing in the CAF Confederation Cup and had played a Carling Knockout match against Stellenbosch on Wednesday. Cardoso said Sundowns had identified the demands on Eric Tinkler’s side and sought to increase the pressure from the opening stages.

“We had an intention to use the weapon of fatigue from our side. We knew that Durban City had played a few matches in a row, and they didn’t have time for proper recovery,” Cardoso told the media during the post-match press conference.

“A lot of trips, a lot of recovery. We also experienced that, and we know how difficult it is, especially for players that are not used to consistently playing on the third and fourth days.

“Obviously, the intensity we tried to put in from the beginning also made us make some mistakes because we wanted to do so quickly, so we would bring fatigue as quickly as possible to the opponent so we could profit from the mistakes.

“But I think the team got excited as time went by; this team is well coached and has quality players, and as much as we restricted them, they fought back.”

Cardoso also criticised the match officials after referee Cedric Muvhali rejected two penalty appeals from Sundowns during the game.

The coach said he was reluctant to say too much about the decisions, but made clear his frustration at what he regarded as significant refereeing mistakes.

“Today [Saturday] is a day of a lot of emotions. I will make my best effort to shut up and not speak too much.

“I think everybody saw those. One day again to remember for South Africa.

“I just want people to see what happened, the penalties that we had and were not given, and what happened today.

“For us, we just have to play every match and concentrate on what we control, and what we control is our performance. We tried to avoid problems with the referees.

“We try not to speak to the referees, and we try to focus on playing football, and that’s the attitude this team must have.”

Sundowns’ next fixture is in the Carling Knockout quarterfinal, when they host Golden Arrows at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday at 7pm.