Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has labelled his side’s shock exit from the CAF Champions League a failure.

Sundowns stunned

The Brazilians were knocked out of Africa’s premier club competition in the second preliminary round following a 1-1 draw against Wiliete SC at Loftus Versfeld.

The away-goals rule means Sundowns will not defend their title. This is also the first time since 2015 that Sundowns have failed to qualify for the group stages.

Tashreeq Matthews opened the scoring in the first half, but Mabululu’s second-half equaliser proved to be the decisive blow.

When asked whether the elimination constituted a failure for a club with such high standards and a long-standing presence in the Champions League, Cardoso conceded that the result was not good enough.

“Of course, it’s a failure. It’s a failure from everybody. We should embrace, from the coaches, players and everybody,” he said.

“Let me state how this is a failure because I don’t want to give you the opportunity just to say that. I think we controlled the match, but we just failed to score the goals we had to score if you count the opportunities that we had inside the box.”

The Portuguese coach was left to rue his side’s missed chances in Tshwane. Brayan Leon and Tashreeq Matthews spurned clear opportunities in the second half as Sundowns searched for a late winner.

‘One situation after the other’

“We started the game in a good dynamic way and created one situation after the other and we scored,” he added.

“We could have scored more goals and I think it’s exactly out of the goals that we didn’t score that we should complain.”