Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has confirmed five players are ruled out to face Esperance Sportive de Tunis for their first leg CAF Champions League quarter-final tomorrow.
Sundowns host Esperance at Loftus Versfeld, the same side that eliminated them from the semi-final of the competition with a 2-0 aggregate win, ironically with the coach that now is seated at the helm of the Brazilians.
And they will be without several players, despite the experienced duo of Themba Zwane and Mothobi Mvala returning to full training, he stated they can’t risk them when they are not match fit for a game of this intensity against Taraji.
“The players that are still out of the group, he’s almost there, almost there but still not in condition to participate in this match and eventually not even the second leg,” Cardoso confirmed ahead of the game.
“Also, Mothobi [Mvala] and [Aubrey] Modiba but indeed we feel they are quite close, for the game to be clear, we are in a moment where they already trained 100% with the group, with the exception of Mothiba, Rivaldo, and Mabena.
“But Themba and Mothobi are preparing normal with the group and now we’re preparing to give them stimulus of games, not official, they should not participate in official games before they don’t have the chance to play a friendly.
“So, during this period of time, we’re playing Esperance, there’s two competitive moments they will be subjected to. Tomorrow they will play full pitch with some players with the Diski team, then when we fly to Tunisia, there will be a friendly match where they will play against a team that we invite to come play with us.
“This is so you understand the process of bringing players back, not only in training sessions but also bringing them back on the level which they can perform on the pitch.
“We can’t expose a player like Themba or Mothobi in a game where they are not able to perform at the level of players they are. But they are doing well and moving forward – almost there, almost there.”
The two sides meet in the nation’s capital on Tuesday afternoon at 15h00.
