Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso says he doesn’t feel like a loser after the 2-1 defeat to Orlando Pirates but what will speak for the squad, is their reaction now.
Cardoso stated he’s never been part of a team that conceded two goals in such a short period between each other but says they put out a good performance at FNB Stadium that will be characterised by two lapses of concentration.
Relebohile Mofokeng profited with a brace and while they fought their way back into the game, with Khuliso Mudau reducing the deficit, it was Pirates who claimed all three points at the Calabash on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s never happened to me in my life to take two goals in such a small period of time, but it can happen, probably in the worst moment to happen, but what I told the boys was not about what happened, but about what we should do to revert what happened,” he said.
“For me, it’s [what happened before] is never where I focus my attention – we’re not what happens to us, we are what we are and what we believe we can do, that’s what I told them.
“What happened there [conceding those goals] was not us, but it can happen to anyone – importantly is how you react to what happened to us. That will make the difference, that will speak for you. Because if we fall down after the 2-0, I would arrive here [to the press conference] like a lose, I lost the game, but I don’t feel [like a] a loser.
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“I feel my team fight until the end for the result, the boys reacted in a very difficult environment and context and emotionally they were strong enough to fight until the last minute. So being a loser is one thing, losing a match is another thing.
“We could not get out of this match by being losers, we didn’t go out like we’d like to be, but we went out with a proper feeling that we could have achieved a different result. And that there was a moment of the game we made mistakes. So, it’s easier to get out of a match like this with attitude and you stand up until the end.
“I don’t like to be a loser, I don’t like that, but losing matches can happen and how you get out of them is what will speak for you. So what will speak for us? Is what we do after this game, not what happened [against Pirates].”
Sundowns next match is set to be the first leg of their CAF Champions League quarter-final against Cardoso’s former club, Esperance Sportive de Tunis at Loftus Versfeld on 1 April.
