Cardoso and Seema optimistic of Nedbank Cup success

There will be some familiarity about the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Sekhukhune United at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday night.

The two Betway Premiership rivals met recently where Brazilians recorded a 4-2 victory over Babina Noko.

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As expected, Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso played down the significance of the positive result the last time the two teams met last month. Not one to give much away, the Portuguese is adamant that Sekhukhune won’t be a walkover.

“We played Sekhukhune not so long ago and as you said, we believe this is a new match because it’s a different competition. One match will decide who goes to the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup but it will be a different approach to the match,” Cardoso said.

“Eventually different players will play so let’s see from both parties because we played yesterday (Wednesday) and Sekhukhune two days ago. The team is training but I had to come here but they are training and some are being evaluated on how their condition is and tomorrow (Friday) we can prepare for the match.

“We expect the same match from the previous one that was hard and whatever the result was has nothing to do with how we feel the game will be played. We need to have the best attitude because we know what we did well, their strong points, we know how they can harm us and how we need to control them. It’s a competition we want to proceed in and want to be in the final to play and win the trophy.”

Meanwhile, Cardoso’s counterpart, Lehlohonolo Seema, wouldn’t be drawn into Sipho Mbule disciplinary matter. The Sundowns loanee is reportedly in hot water with Sekhukhune management over an alleged verbal altercation between him and the technical team. The 44-year-old also shot down suggestions that they will park the bus against the in-form Sundowns. 

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“I’m not going to say anything about the issue of our player Sipho Mbule, any questions regarding him, I wouldn’t be in a position to answer it and he was not going to be available anyway for this fixture so let us not bring up his name. We await a proper statement from the club once everything is settled,” Seema said.

“If you watched our last game against them, it was a game that could’ve gone either way. The towel is far from being thrown and we’re going there to win it. You’ll never see a Sekhukhune that will sit back.”