Sundowns to switch focus to Premiership

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso is under intense scrutiny following the defending champions’ embarrassing exit from the Caf Champions League at the preliminary stage.

Cardoso’s situation is dicey for Sundowns bosses because he recently delivered this tournament, the Fifa African-Asian-Pacific Cup and MTN8.

These recent successes may be enough to buy him time, and they have more to chew on with the Carling Knockout Cup, Caf Super Cup, Fifa Challenger Cup and Nedbank Cup on the menu.

Cardoso said the away-goals rule (1-1) loss to Wiliete SC of Angola hurts because they wanted to defend the continental trophy. Their exit may be a blessing in disguise, as they can turn their attention to reclaiming the Betway Premiership from Orlando Pirates.

Great empires come from the ashes; it was like that after the First and Second World Wars — Miguel Cardoso, Mamelodi Sundowns coach

The Buccaneers will have more matches on their schedule after comfortably qualifying for the Group Stages with a 5-0 aggregate thrashing of the Namibian minnows, African Stars, at Orlando Stadium.

As he surveyed the wreckage of their exit, Cardoso called for collective responsibility and vowed they will bounce back stronger because of what is at stake for the remainder of the season. “For the remainder of the season, we have to focus more on the competitions that we have to play.

“We have a match in the Carling Knockout Cup in three days. After that, we have the league, and later is the final of the Super Cup.”

Important lessons learned

Cardoso, who has been to the last three Champions League finals, added that important lessons were learned from this experience. “There are still a lot of trophies to play for this season, but we must not forget what it means to be out of the Champions League.

“It is hard for the club, coaches... and you can imagine myself after making it to the final for three years in a row. It is very hard for the club that is supposed to have made it to the group stages for another season.

“Great empires come from the ashes; it was like that after the First and Second World Wars. That is what we need to take to the locker room and focus [on].

“It’s failure from everybody, and we should embrace it from the coaches and everybody. I want to state how it is a failure because I don’t want to give you the opportunity just to say that. We controlled the match but we just failed to score.

“If you count all the opportunities that we had inside the box, we should have converted to influence the result. When you don’t finish the situations that you have, you stay exposed to anything.”

A gift for fans

Meanwhile, Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou dedicated his team’s progression to their supporters, saying their plan was to go all the way.

“It is a gift for our fans, but now we have to be ambitious and try to go far in the competition because anything is possible. I have said it many times that you have to dream big if you want to achieve something.”

Ouaddou is excited about the challenge that he and his players will face in Africa’s most prestigious club competition. “It’s the first time for me coaching in the group stages of the Champions League; it’s a big challenge for me and the players.

“I failed last season to go through to the group stages, and I took responsibility for that as the head coach.”

Ouaddou added that their away goal was vital. “We were really prepared well for this second leg. The boys did well in the first leg in Botswana, where we scored the important away goal.

More goals

“But at the same time, I told the boys that we are not going to protect that away goal. I told them we must score more goals in order to control the game, and that’s what they did.”

Qualification for the group stages is important because Nkosinathi Sibisi, Lebone Seema, Oswin Appollis, Thalente Mbatha, Tshepang Moremi, Yanela Mbuthuma, Boitumelo Radiopane and Evidence Makgopa are going to earn valuable continental experience for Bafana Bafana.

Kaizer Chiefs were eliminated from the Confederation Cup after they lost 3-2 to Zambian side Red Arrows on penalties at Moses Mabhida Stadium.