Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has weighed in on their chances to beat Borussia Dortmund when the two sides meet at the TQL Stadium on Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati, Ohio.
With Dortmund having drawn 0-0 with Fluminense and Sundowns opening their Group F campaign with a 1-0 win over Ulsan HD, which sees them sit top ahead of their meeting against the Bundesliga giants tomorrow.
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Dortmund remains the overwhelming favourites due to the stature of the club, playing at the highest level in Europe but the tournament showed one of its biggest shocks yesterday when Brazilian club Botafogo beat European champions, Paris Saint-Germain.
“Sometimes I am accused to be negative, I heard already some people saying being [negative], it’s not exactly that, I am not negative, I am very realistic regarding these things and I’m not afraid to tell things how they are,” he said, when asked about looking at the glass half full, of the capabilities of qualifying for the knockout stages tomorrow.
“I think many don’t know Botafogo, it’s the Brazilian champions and last year’s Libertadores champions but sometimes people mistake things a bit, but you look they has 28% ball possession in the game against PSG.
“So that result can happen once out of 10… what I mean in regular days, the strongest will impose their strength, but outliers happen always, but those outliers happen when they mental conviction of the team is so strong, their emotional connection is so strong that magic can happen.
“That is what I will try to create as an ambience in the team, the level of ambition, of conviction, of determination, that also we find the right emotions to play that sort of game and produce a good result.
“But people need to understand exactly how to cope with the moments where that things happen and when it doesn’t happen, because they may not happen. They should not feel we are unsuccessful or not good enough.
“Whatever happens from here to the end of the competition, it might happen in two games, three, four or even in five – my players are high quality and everyone around the structure is high level quality people.”
The two sides meet tomorrow at 18h00 (GMT+2).
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