Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso made a candid prediction about the Betway Premiership title after his troops lost to Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday afternoon.
A spirited Pirates side emerged victorious over Sundowns, claiming a 2-1 win. The first half witnessed a flurry of attacking prowess from the Buccaneers, with Relebohile Mofokeng displaying exceptional composure to score two rapid goals.
Khuliso Mudau’s goal for the log leaders Sundowns sparked a late rally, but Pirates’ early lead ultimately proved unassailable.
The Soweto giants’ victory has injected new life into the title race, reducing Sundowns’ lead to 15 points. With four games in hand, Pirates have an opportunity to close the gap further. Winning all four would put them just three points behind the Tshwane side, setting the stage for a tense conclusion to the season.
Pirates currently have 43 points from 19 matches, while the reigning league champions – Sundowns have 58 from 23 games.
MIGUEL CARDOSO SEES THE TITLE RACE GOING DOWN TO THE WIRE
While there’s a general belief that Sundowns will go on to win their eighth successive league title, Cardoso is anticipating more twists to the race. The former Esperance tactician has asserted that the Premiership chase will go down to the wire as he believes both teams have a chance to win the title
“I don’t even know when our next championship game is because we have games to play before; I totally understand your question,” said Cardoso when asked about Sundowns’ plans for the remaining matches in the league. “Resilience is an important capacity to play in the championship with 30 matches.
“Consistency is also a value that is important to have. Lack of motivation and focus will go completely in an opposite way. So what we have to do is obviously to play competitions that we have to play and make the best out of them.
“When we’re going to face our next championship match, we will play it like we’ve been doing. Play it like it’s the last one of our lives. There’s no other way to do it than to fight for three points until the end.
“I’m sure that both Pirates and Sundowns will still lose points because there are tough matches to play. Let’s hope we can minimise the losses as much as possible because it will be fantastic if we win all the matches until the end.
“That will give us what we want. If not, we will have to cope with the points of Pirates but this championship will be played until the end, for sure,” added the Sundowns coach.
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