Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso is delighted with the way his team outplayed Orlando Pirates in the Premier Soccer Soccer League assignment on Saturday afternoon.
The defending champions claimed a 4-1 win – their 14th victory out of the 15 league outings in the ongoing campaign. Masandawana are now on 42 points, nine more than second-placed Soweto giants.
The former Esperance coach is happy with the mentality shown by his players against a tough opponent.
Pirates are a team that can harm you
“A very difficult match, obviously we got a wonderful result that came from the work the players did, came from the strategy and the plan and from the mindset the players had during to win all the game,” the Portuguese tactician conceded after the game.
“We knew it would be tough, but we could make it beautiful, but we had to work hard, expecting the right moments to make our decision. These games are meant to be won.
Pirates are a team that can harm you, they have wonderful players in the front to cope with a game like this you must be very strong. The full plan was always our defensive plan. We didn’t want to play from the back, we just wanted to respect the moment we have the ball and try to have it as much as possible.
“But we knew we could use the spaces and why we would have to work hard, the plan today was to be a team and we were a very strong team today and due to that we won.”
Ribeiro lauded as Cardoso now plans for Galaxy duel
Ribeiro was directly responsible for three goals, scoring two and assisting one. Cardoso has since underlined his importance in the team.
“Lucas is giving his share; Lucas is giving his share. We are trying to keep him excited about playing and happy, but we’re trying to make a team that can also please him and that he pleases the team,” he stated.
“The values here are collective, he’s sharing the collective values, he is much better on defence also. He is a more collective player, I hope he can be prepared to feed us a lot, whatever the sky's the limit for everybody here.”
On Tuesday, Downs are away against TS Galaxy, and Cardoso has now shifted his attention to that respective fixture.
“The most important thing now is Tuesday; we have another match in 72 hours. This is dramatic and a little bit in-human even. But let’s hope we can now recover and look forward to continuing to win, the next game it’s the most important of our lives.”
