Sundowns’ Cardoso – We still believe

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso still believes his side can go to Cairo and get the result they need against Al Ahly to reach the CAF Champions League final. 

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Masandawana played out a pretty insipid goalless draw with Ahly at Loftus Stadium in the first leg of their semifinal on Saturday. 

Sundowns fail to threaten

The home side failed to register a single shot on target, despite dominating possession against the 12-time African champions. 

One plus for Sundowns, however, is that they did not concede an away goal. If they can score in Egypt they will leave Ahly having to win that match to progress. 

Perhaps Cardoso’s side can take heart from what Stellenbosch did against Ahly’s great rivals Zamalek. A goalless draw at home in in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinal was followed by a 1-0 win in Cairo.

“We have a strong belief we can do it in Cairo and we will go into this match full of desire and belief,” Cardoso told the post match press conference. 

“It was a typical semifinal match between the two highest ranking teams according to CAF,” he added on the game at Loftus. 

Zwane positive

“There were a lot of quality players on both sides. It was not the best match but a typical semifinal. Both teams were trying to explore different things … but also protecting their goal. 

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Another positive for Cardoso was the return from injury of Themba Zwane. Zwane came on for the last 20 minutes at Loftus, his first appearance since rupturing his Achilles tendon playing for Bafana Bafana in October.

The 35 year-old showed enough spark to suggest he could yet play a key role on Friday at the Cairo International Stadium.