Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso wants to keep winning to maintain the pressure on Orlando Pirates and ultimately make it impossible for the Soweto giants to catch them.
Sundowns received a big boost in their quest to win an eighth straight PSL title on Wednesday, when they beat Richards Bay 3-0, while rivals Pirates lost 1-0 to Sekhukhune United.
That saw Cardoso’s team open up a 12-point lead at the summit and with five games to go, three more wins could be enough to secure the title, even if Pirates win their two matches in hand.
Cardoso admits he was surprised by Pirates’ loss but it does not change how he wants to approach the run-in.
Cardoso surprised by Pirates’ loss
“I’m really surprised, you can understand from voice, because I didn’t know,” Cardoso said upon learning of Pirates’ loss.
“Obviously it will depend on ourselves. There is still five games to play and things are not done. For sure our opponents will not give up and we need to make points and points.
“Obviously when we can enlarge the advantage, it gives us more comfort. But it doesn’t take nothing from the way we should do. We have five tough matches to play.”
Next up for Sundowns is a clash away to relegation-threatened Cape Town City on Saturday and Cardoso does not want his team to get their foot off the pedal.
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“The next one is already away in Cape Town, with Cape Town City there is a team that is fighting and has its own objectives,” he added.
“We should respect ourselves, we should respect the opponent, respect the opposition – not sleep on what we did. When you sleep on what you did, then you have problems.
“We played one more game today, five more games to go. If we got extra advantage fantastic, but it something we should manage. It’s to keep on going, we need to win our matches.”
With their tight schedule, which has seen them play two matches every week since the turn of the year, the Portuguese tactician wants to squeeze everything from his players as they target league and CAF Champions League glory.
No rest for Sundowns stars
“I will not give rest to my players. They need to push themselves. This championship is tough, there is still a lot to go. Let’s see everything that is going to happen, but we have in the next six weeks, the five remaining games,” said Cardoso.
“We know it will be tough, but we are motivated, we are happy. We are aware of the responsibility we carry, and the level of our opponents and we respect them. To respect them we need to do our job, be strong, keep training, keep working and until the end.”
Besides the PSL, Sundowns are also looking to win their second Champions League title after setting up a final against Egyptian side Pyramids, who eliminated Pirates in the semi-final.
