Mamelodi Sundowns’ Khuliso Mudau ruled out for six months with Achilles rupture, says Miguel Cardoso

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has confirmed that Khuliso Mudau will miss six months after suffering a total rupture of his Achilles.

Mudau’s injury is a major setback for Sundowns as they prepare to face Lamontville Golden Arrows in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final this weekend.

The tie begins in Tshwane, with Sundowns approaching the match after a 2-0 victory over Marumo Gallants on Wednesday. That result gave them their first clean sheet of the new season, but Cardoso’s side now face an unpredictable Golden Arrows team which eliminated Kaizer Chiefs in the quarter-finals.

Cardoso said Sundowns would need to manage the attacking threat posed by Golden Arrows while trying to secure an advantage before the second leg.

“Golden Arrows is a team with quality, we will try our best to achieve a positive result, without suffering goals, it’s the care we need to have, we’re not a team that waits for what the game gives,” he said.

The Sundowns head coach highlighted the counter-attacking approach Golden Arrows used against Kaizer Chiefs and said his team would not simply sit back and react to events.

“We will try to control the capacity Arrows have with counter attacks as we saw against Kaizer Chiefs, with a medium to low block they had no issues to aggress, we will go for a result that will allow us to have more comfort in the second match.

Cardoso was also keen to place Sundowns’ clean sheet against Marumo Gallants in the context of a collective defensive effort rather than individual achievement. He said the team had conceded most of its goals from set pieces, while one goal had been clearly offside and two had come from just two shots.

“I did not keep the clean sheet, it was the team, I just organise things, most goals we conceded was set-pieces, one was a clear offside, we conceded two goals from two shots.”

The coach acknowledged that Sundowns would have to improve defensively again against Golden Arrows, particularly by restricting the number of chances they allow.

“We need to limit Arrows chances to minimise their chances of scoring.

However, the focus on defensive improvement was overshadowed by the confirmation of Mudau’s lengthy absence. Cardoso described losing the player as a significant blow before confirming the severity of the injury.

“Injuries? It’s hard to lose one of the best African players. I can confirm it’s a total rupture of Mudau’s achilees and it’s going to be a period of six months out.”

Sundowns will therefore enter the opening match of the MTN8 semi-final seeking to build on Wednesday’s win and clean sheet while adapting to the loss of Mudau. Their objective is to claim a positive result in Tshwane and avoid conceding, giving them greater comfort ahead of the second match.