‘It’s a group where all the away matches will be very tough,’ said the Sundowns head coach.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso expressed his satisfaction after watching his side open their CAF Champions League group stage campaign with a commanding 3–1 victory over Saint-Éloi Lupopo at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Sundowns on top
The win places the Brazilians at the top of Group C, ahead of Sudanese outfit Al-Hilal. This comes after Algerian giants MC Alger, managed by former Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena, suffered a surprise 2–1 defeat to Hilal on Friday.
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Sundowns have made a far brighter start to this year’s round-robin phase compared to last season, where they stuttered to two consecutive draws in their opening matches. That sluggish start ultimately cost former coach Manqoba Mngqithi his job.
“It’s important to start with a victory, you remember last year when I arrived here, it was two matches played with one point,” Cardoso recalled.
“It’s tough if you lose matches against teams that theoretically you should beat at home. That lack of points can haunt you a little bit later in the competition and it happened last year. I expect a very tough group
“It’s a group where all the away matches will be very tough. We saw the match the previous day and only Sundowns in the highest level can cope with those challenges and finish in the end in first position.”
Nuno Santos gave Sundowns an early lead in the fourth minute and completed his brace late in the second half. Marcelo Allende also found the net, ensuring the hosts regained control of the match in the 60th minute after the match went into the break tied at 1-1.
Ramos Kashala provided Lupopo’s only moment of joy, scoring on the stroke of half-time. The DRC side remained competitive until around the hour mark, when they were still holding to Sundowns draw, but Allende and Santos stepped up to secure all three points.
‘Not easy’
“You also need to understand that playing matches like this at 3 pm and in such heat is not easy with an opponent that is used to playing at that time,” Cardoso added.
“They usually play under difficult circumstances and they are more used to it than us. It was an advantage for them and I think we also had to manage the moments. You have to understand that players are human and they cannot maintain their effort in the same level for 90 minutes.
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“We need to be wise enough to know how to deal with the moments where we can’t push more and the capacity to hold the ball more so that our recovery process happens while we’re still playing.”