Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has revealed the Brazilians' determined approach for their make-or-break FIFA Club World Cup Group F showdown against Fluminense.
With a spot in the next round on the line, Masandawana will be aiming for nothing less than a victory against the South American champions.
The high-stakes encounter kicks off on Wednesday, June 25, at 9 PM, at the Hard Rock Stadium. Meanwhile, Fluminense enters the match with a slight advantage, needing only a draw or a win to progress, setting the stage for a tactical battle.
Cardoso is expecting a fiercely tactical contest when his side faces Fluminense in their make-or-break FIFA Club World Cup fixture.
The Portuguese tactician noted the similarities in how both teams approach the game, stating that Sundowns will aim to possess the ball more to exert greater control over the match's intensity.
CARDOSO AWARE OF SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SUNDOWNS & FLUMINENSE
“I was expecting that in this World Cup, we could take ourselves to the limit in terms of our physical impact on the game – which means make more distance, more actions of high intensity,” said Cardoso.
“But when you play under the temperatures we are playing, obviously that is standard, it's not possible to take it [to the limit, because we play on the limit before we arrived at these metrics].
“But, anyway, we have been reaching interesting outputs in terms of fitness and performance, but l totally agree that having the ball in the match can be decisive to manage the intensity.
“It might not seem like it, but the team who has the ball runs less, and mentally they are submitted to a less aggressive state.”
He continued, “Obviously that we have similar styles, despite having different principles of the game, that will make it a fight or a war between the two teams to try and take the game to their side.”
“That's why I was speaking about earlier that we need to take the game as much as possible to our comfort zone, because when we'll be playing in our comfort zone, the effort that is lower is the effort with which we train.”
