Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has explained how the weather delay helped his side to prepare even better for their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup opener against Ulsan HD.
Sundowns’ match against the South Korean side was supposed to kick off at midnight (SAST) but got delayed by over an hour due to adverse weather.
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Cardoso admitted the delay helped his side to better prepare tactically as they had more time to react to Ulsan’s surprise tactical changes in their line-up.
“The delay of the game had good things, and bad things,” the Portuguese coach said.
“It gave us the opportunity to sit with the team and discuss better the line-up of the opponent that became a little bit surprising, because usually they build up with a free player having the full-back lower, but then they defend in a back-four.
“But today they appear playing in a back-five, so we had the time to make the proper corrections, settle down on the game, and adjust the plan. That was positive.
“But obviously it’s also not the best to stop again warm-up and re warm-up. Also strategically, we understood which of the options that the opponent had for the kick-off, because usually they use two different variants, and we could work on that.
“The first one, and it’s clear that we could have even scored from the pressure from that moment.
“But most of all, what was important was release a little bit of emotions, because the voices throughout the stadium, so we were looking like acquainted and re-energised for the for the beginning of the game.”
Sundowns won the game 1-0 to move to the top of Group F after the first round of match, with Borussia Dortmund and Fluminense sharing the spoils in a goalless draw.
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