Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has discussed what he told his players at half-time in their 2-1 comeback win over Maniema Union on Saturday.
Masandawana came from a goal down thanks to two late goals to move to eight points in Group B and open the door for the knockout stages of the competition.
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Cardoso revealed he told his players at the break to focus on getting back one goal, because he knew it would change the game and open the chance for a second as well.
“I told them at half-time, just play for one goal, don’t play for two. We only need one,” he said after the crucial win.
“Because I knew that one goal could give us the emotions to believe in the second one. I told them to believe in that first goal because already the result of a draw could help us in the next game, to depend on us.
“But I also knew that one goal could change a little bit, increase the pressure on the opponent and give us that extra energy.”
The Sundowns coach added that he made minor tweaks at half-time and believes they deserved to win the game despite having to wait long for goals.
“I think that we were very hyped at half-time by the score, it’s very difficult to play here,” he added.
“It’s obvious by the results that Maniema usually makes, it’s a team that doesn’t suffer many goals. It’s a team you can have possession against, but they always find a way to oppress you because it’s very straight and direct football.
“But we knew that we had to play for our style and that we would create our moments. It was important [to tell the players] that we would keep the emotions and try to increase the level of aggressivety on the pitch in terms of players in the front that could break the moment.
“We broke a little bit our way of playing because we were marginalised at half-time then in second half but we knew that we could create any moment because if you pressure we could create moments for us.
“Not always in the right way, but with the right intention and spirit we fought and we were rewarded. I think we were the better team that deserved to win.”
