Sundowns’ Cardoso gives a positive injury update on Zwane

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has provided an injury update on some of his big-name players ahead of another defining week for the defending league champions. Cardoso is confident that long-term casualties Themba Zwane and Mothobi Mvala will return to the team before the season ends.

Khuliso Mudau and Divine Lunga are also close to returning to action with 12 Betway Premiership matches left to play this season. The Brazilians will travel to Sekhukhune United for a tricky league match at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday night.

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Following the trip to Polokwane, Masandawana will be at home to Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday and Cardoso offered a positive outlook on some of his injured players, including club captain Zwane, who has been out for nearly five month.

“Themba will recover not only for the World Cup but to play before that. We expect that he will recover, and so will Mothobi. Divine and Mudau are at different stages, but they will return much sooner than that,” Cardoso said.

“There’s one thing about physical recovery in order to play football, and another thing is to recover in order to perform, and we need to understand that. One thing is that he (Zwane) is able to train, but until he is able to perform, there are more steps to take. It’s not just about saying he can train with the team, but can he play these kinds of games? That’s another thing and we have to prepare him for that.

“It’s not the same as Mudau, who has been out for one month or Divine, who has been out for three weeks, as opposed to Themba, who has been out for months. So, this process will take longer, but he’s working very hard, and that’s what I expect from all of them. They’re taking care of their bodies, health, and social lives so that they recover quickly.”

Cardoso believes that their good run of form will continue if they maintain their intensity. Sundowns have scored seven goals in their last two league matches against Marumo Gallants and TS Galaxy, while conceding only two.

“Here, football is aggressive and most teams drop a lot and it’s difficult to find spaces. You need a lot of speedy actions, and then you have to cope with counter-attacks,” the former Esperance coach said.

“It’s not about covering kilometres in a match, but about the capacity to produce high-intensity running, and that becomes difficult when you have a lot of games. Those moments are decisive in football.

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“When you drop the capacity to produce high-intensity running, you also drop the capacity to be aggressive towards the opponent. That’s why sometimes we need to change players, because the ones we want on the pitch will probably not be able to perform those kinds of actions.”