Missed chances haunt Sundowns as Champions League run ends early

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso said they must take collective responsibility for failure to progress to the group stages of the Caf Champions League.

At the same time, he vowed the Brazilians will come back stronger after this massive setback because there is still a lot to play for this season.

Sundowns suffered the embarrassment of being eliminated at the preliminary stage as defending champions by Angolan side Wiliete SC, who came from a goal down to cause one of the tournament’s biggest shocks.

Sundowns took the lead through attacker Tashreeq Matthews after 11 minutes, but Wiliete SC equalised through veteran striker Cristóvão “Mabululu” Paciência and went through 1-1 on away goals rule.

Sundowns went into this match with an impressive record of having qualified for the group stages since 2016, when they won it, but they paid a heavy price for failing to score in both legs.

“Of course it is a failure,” admitted Cardoso.

“It’s a 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 in the box, we should have converted to influence the result.

“When you don’t finish the situations that you create, you stay exposed to anything.”

Sundowns did not have influential Bafana Bafana midfielder Teboho Mokoena, but Cardoso said they had enough quality on the field to progress to the next stage.

“Regarding what we missed or did not miss, there are many things that we missed. If you see this team and compare it with the one that finished the Champions League last year, one has nothing to do with the other.

“That is not an excuse at all; the team that played today [Friday] should have won the match. We should have won the match today with the players that we had on the pitch and the ones that entered later.

“We created enough chances to win the match; we did not lose but drew two matches. But we also progressed on away goals in the past, and we can’t complain about that now.

“That is why when you are in the game, you have to finish it so that you are not exposed to a random goal.”

Orlando Pirates will be South Africa’s only representatives in the Champions League this season after they thrashed African Stars of Namibia 5-0 on aggregate.

There will also be no Confederation Cup football for Kaizer Chiefs this season after losing 3-2 on penalties to the Zambian side Red Arrows in Durban.

Sundowns’ players don’t have time to dwell on this disappointment as they turn their attention to the Carling Knockout Cup, where they host Marumo Gallants on Tuesday night.