Cardoso pleased with Sundowns fightback in victory over Maniema

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has praised his team’s resilience after they came back from a goal down to snatch a 2-1 win against AS Maniema Union in a Caf Champions League match that was played at Stade de Martyrs.

Peter Shalulile’s late cameo appearance saw Sundowns leave the DR Congo with all three points after trailing for the better part of the game. The Namibian striker came off the bench to equalise for the Brazilians with seven minutes left to play, after Jephte Kitambala had given Maniema the lead in the first half.

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Just when it looked like the game was heading for a draw, Exaucia Moanda scored a costly own goal in injury time, while trying to stop Shalulile who was through on goal. Cardoso was understandably pleased with how his charges applied themselves in a match that was played on an artificial pitch under scorching weather conditions.

“I don’t believe that we failed in the first half because, after 10 minutes, I was speaking to one of my assistants and I said we could be leading 2-0 if we were clinical, but we didn’t score. So we didn’t open the game the way we should have,” he said.

“Indeed, we ended the game by profiting from a wonderful entry into the game by Peter and also from other players who did their best. In the last moment, we put Peter in because we knew that we could create chances and, at the right moment, we would score, but we had to keep our emotions in check to arrive at that moment.”

Cardoso needed a big half time team talk with Sundowns’ place in the knockout phase of the competition hanging by a thread. The former Esperance coach revealed what he told his players at the break after Kitambala ran from his own half to bulldoze Grant Kekana and Teboho Mokoena, before toe-poking the ball past Ronwen Williams at his near post.

“I always believed that it was possible to influence the game, but I told the players at half-time to just play for one goal and we didn’t need to play for two. I knew that one goal could give us the motivation to go for the second one,” Cardoso added.

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“A draw would have been something that could’ve led us to the next game, but I also knew that one goal could change things a little bit by increasing the level of stress on our opponents and give us the energy.”