Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has made a plea to the club’s supporters ahead of their decisive clash against Algerian side MC Alger in the CAF Champions League.
The Brazilians will welcome Rulani Mokwena’s MC Alger in the final match of the group stages in the Champions League on Saturday afternoon at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
Sundowns will be aiming to secure maximum points and hope that other results in their group go in their favour as they look to qualify for the knockout stage.
As it stands, Masandawana are on the back foot after failing to secure a victory against FC Saint-Eloi Lupopo. They played to a 1-1 draw away from home in Lubumbashi on Sunday.
Sundowns are currently third in Group C of the Champions League, with six points from five matches. They are trailing Al-Hilal and MC Alger, who have collected eight and seven points respectively.
With Sundowns at risk of missing out on qualification for the knockout phase, Cardoso has called on the club’s supporters to come in numbers and rally behind the team.
CARDOSO URGES SUNDOWNS FANS TO RALLY BEHIND THE TEAM AMIDST INCONSISTENT RESULTS
The Portuguese mentor has come under intense scrutiny at Chloorkop following a string of inconsistent results. Tensions boiled over a few weeks ago when both Cardoso and sporting director Flemming Berg were confronted by disgruntled supporters. The fans demanded the club hierarchy take action, chanting the name of former coach Pitso Mosimane—the man responsible for the club’s most successful era—who continues to be linked with a return to the dugout.
“We have a match to play that we would always play to win; we don’t play to draw. When you play to draw, you usually lose,” Cardoso said after the disappointing results against Lupopo.
“We have to be brave enough to face the next match. We already played MC Alger, and it will be a difficult match, but there is a difficult test for strong people. So we are playing in front of our public [fans], and I hope they understand they have to support us, come in numbers, put in the energy, and help us.
“We have to find ways to play this match so that the opponent doesn’t know how we play, so that we can approach the match in the right way and at the end go through in the competition.”
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