Cardoso hails his Sundowns players after victory over Esperance

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has explained how he prepared his players for the tactical battle of the two-legged quarterfinal clash against Esperance in the CAF Champions League. 

Sundowns edged the tightly-contested encounter 1-0 on aggregate to advance to the semifinals of the competition for the third time a row. This was despite playing to a goalless draw away to Esperance on Tuesday night.

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Shalulile’s strike is enough for Sundowns

The damage was done in Tshwane when Peter Shalulile scored the only goal of the match during the first leg. Sundowns will now meet the most successful club in the history of the competition, Al Ahly. 

The 12-time record champions got past Al-Hilal in their quarterfinal to set up another titanic clash with Sundowns. The first legs of the penultimate stage are scheduled to be played on April 18.

“If you want to succeed playing teams like Esperance, and all the teams that are contesting the quarterfinal, then you must be very complete as a team,” Cardoso said following the stalemate in Tunisia.

“You can never be naive and adapting to reality is a quality that I’ve been developing. Maybe in the beginning of my career, I thought I would win against everybody in the same way 

“However, football taught me that you need to adapt to the context. You cannot play the same way when you play in Rades against Esperance than you would when playing at Loftus.”

Sundowns withstood a late charge from Esperance to progress to the last four Having coached Esperance last season, Cardoso admitted that his knowledge of Tunisian football helped him rally his troops.

‘They played at a very high level’

“Knowing the ambience and knowing the way here can give you a small advantage. It at least helped me to prepare the players emotionally for what they had ahead,” he concluded.

“I said to the players that what makes the boat sink is not the water that is around it. It is the water that enters the boat. We should not engage with people outside the pitch but mostly inside.

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“It was very tough to help the players but they played at a very high level and they were focused. They concentrated on the football questions and forgot everything else. I never felt any disturbance from anything that was happening around.”