Sundowns are facing one of the busiest periods of their season, with the PSL title race still alive while preparations continue for the massive continental final later this month.
Kabo Yellow will host AS FAR at Loftus Versfeld on May 17 before travelling to Morocco for the return leg in Rabat seven days later. In between, the Tshwane giants also had domestic scheduling issues to navigate.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS COACH MIGUEL CARDOSO CITES TRAVELLING CHALLENGE
Their final league fixture against TS Galaxy was eventually moved to May 12, but questions remained over whether the match could have been played in the middle of the Champions League final dates instead.
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The Portuguese coach said there was simply no realistic way for Sundowns to travel across Africa and still fulfill another high-intensity fixture in between the final legs.
“No, that would be absolutely impossible,” Cardoso said. “With the travel to North Africa, how would you make it? We could do it if we had two teams or one [squad] playing here and the other travelling – it’s impossible [for us].”
Cardoso then used Sundowns’ recent semi-final trip against Esperance as an example of how difficult CAF travel logistics can become for clubs competing deep into the tournament.
“Of course, it was the possibility we were given, even for you to understand when we came from Espérance, we could not fly in the night.
“There was no slot to fly in the night, we had to fly in the morning. But we were told if we flew in the night, we’d have to play after two days – just for you to understand how we’re dealing with reality here.”
The former Esperance coach also avoided discussing the detailed negotiations between Sundowns management and the PSL regarding fixture scheduling.
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CONCERNS OVER PLAYER FATIGUE
Cardoso admitted he had already warned the club about possible injuries during this brutal run of fixtures, especially with several players already carrying heavy workloads.
“Sometimes… there’s a moment,” the Sundowns mentor added. “I was very objective with my club, telling them on this sequence of matches we would lose a lot of players. I said that many times, and to several people. If there’s something I know, it’s the physiology of players.
“I was a fitness coach at the beginning of my career. I’m a very experienced coach in managing these things and I have maybe like 80 matches in South Africa, so I know the reality and I know my players,” he added.
