One goal, huge relief! Cardoso makes honest admission after Sundowns' hard-fought cup victory

Miguel Cardoso admits that Mamelodi Sundowns had to work incredibly hard to overcome Golden Arrows.

Details: Mamelodi Sundowns secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Golden Arrows in the Carling Knockout Cup quarter-finals on November 3. Iqraam Rayners scored the decisive goal with a second-half header at Loftus Versfeld, sending his team into the semi-finals. Speaking to SuperSport TV after the match, head coach Miguel Cardoso admitted that breaking down the visitors' disciplined defensive structure had been a serious challenge.

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“Of course, not many goals and when there’s not many goals it seems that the game is not as…But it was, it was a very tactical match,” Cardoso said.

“It had a lot of intensity, with a lot of difficulties to break that defensive structure of Golden Arrows.”

The Portuguese coach also explained the tactical approach his players had adopted to overcome their opponents.

“We played them, we knew that it was important to have a lot of players outside to shift the game from one side to the other, make them go across to one side to the other and try from there to penetrate.”

“I think we could have scored even in the first half and take the lead. But yeah, the team was focused, kept the stability on the behaviours and naturally the things happened, so congratulations for the boys.”

Sundowns are now waiting to discover their semi-final opponents, with the remaining three quarter-final matches scheduled for the upcoming weekend.

It's worth noting that Sundowns will face Algerian club USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup on November 8, with the match also taking place at Loftus Versfeld.

Reminder: After CAF Champions League exit, several Mamelodi Sundowns players could leave as early as January