Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has delivered a blunt assessment of his side’s major setback after crashing out of the CAF Champions League on Friday night.
The Brazilians were eliminated in the second preliminary round following a 1-1 draw against Angolan outfit Wiliete SC in the second leg. Having played out to a goalless draw in the first leg, Sundowns bowed out on the away-goals rule.
In Friday’s high-stakes clash, Sundowns grabbed the lead in the first half through a strike from Tashreeq Matthews. However, Wiliete leveled the score in the second half thanks to a goal from Mabululu, capitalising on a crucial lapse of concentration in the Masandawana defense.
Unable to restore their lead or secure a winner, the defending champions were knocked out of the competition early. Sundowns had lifted the coveted continental title the previous season after defeating Morocco’s AS FAR in a two-legged final.
Reflecting on the painful elimination, Cardoso acknowledged that exiting the competition in the qualifying rounds is a massive failure for the Chloorkop-based club, bemoaning their inability to convert chances.
WHAT MIGUEL CARDOSO SAID ABOUT SUNDOWNS’ EARLY CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXIT
“It’s a failure, it’s a failure for everybody. We should embrace it, from players, coaches and everybody,” Cardoso said.
“But I want to state how it is a failure because I don’t wanna give you an opportunity just to say that. Think we controlled the match completely; we just failed to score the goals that we had to score.
“If you count the opportunities we had inside the box, both first-half and the second-half we had to make more to express the result.
“Obviously, when you don’t finish the situations you have, you stay exposed to anything that may happen in the match.”
Cardoso also addressed whether the absence of key midfielder Teboho Mokoena played a decisive role in their early exit.
“Regarding what we missed or don’t miss, there are many things we miss. You see this team and compare it to the one that finished the Champions League last year; one has nothing to do with the other.
“It’s not an excuse; the team that played today should have won the match, so it’s not a question of missing. Of course we could be stronger with those players, but we should have won the match with the players we had on the pitch because we created enough chances to win.
“Basically, we didn’t lose the match; we drew two matches. We have progressed before with away goals in this competition, so we have ourselves to blame.”
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