Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso says they could not risk playing captain Themba Zwane against Chippa United on the Buffalo City Stadium pitch.
Zwane, 35, recently returned from a long term achilles injury and has slowly been introduced back into the set-up, coming on as a substitute in their last six games.
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But last night, in their 3-0 win over Chippa that secured their eighth consecutive league title, he was a notable absence from the match day squad, as was Aubrey Modiba – which Cardoso said was due to keeping the team safe ahead of the CAF Champions League final.
“I agree it’s important but in the last matches, the players committed themselves with the need of achieving victories, it’s so wonderful to get results that allow us to manage players, so throughout the last matches, we were not only able to take out players but also leave some players out,” he said.
“For example, Mali [Khoza] stayed out, Aubrey [Modiba] stayed out, Themba we didn’t play because the pitch was a bit risky we decided not to play him.
“In the previous match Marcelo [Allende] stayed out, Grant [Kekana] stayed out – so we’ve been able to manage the players in the last few matches.
“There no compromise in acheiving results, but it allowed us to make that [changes] but we’re in a good moment, on Sunday we will be in a good [form] also.
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“I listened to the coach of PSG, Luis Enrique saying most teams when they have hectic schedules they work more – but you do it anyway.
“I know you guys joked when I said we prepare matches in 20 minutes but it was true – if we play the way we want, you can use games as training sessions, of course if you play bad, it gives you nothing but the way we committed in playing well, the way we develop the team by playing [matches] is the best training sessions we could do.”
Sundowns finish off the 2024/25 league campaign this weekend against Magesi at Loftus Versfeld where the inaugural Betway Premiership title will be lifted by the record champions.
