Following a valiant effort, Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso conveyed his pride in his squad, though he expressed a collective sense of unhappiness after their 4-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Sundowns went into the game as Group F leaders, courtesy of their 1-0 victory over Ulsan HD, a position boosted by the 0-0 draw between Dortmund and Fluminense.
The match at TQL Stadium unfolded as a seven-goal spectacle, thoroughly entertaining for neutral spectators, with the Bundesliga side ultimately clinching the win.
However, a “certain level of disappointment” was evident from the Sundowns contingent. Players like Ronwen Williams, Marcelo Allende, Thapelo Morena, and Tashreeq Matthews expressed in the mixed zone that they felt they could have achieved a better outcome.
Cardoso echoed these sentiments in his post-match press conference, recognizing that the group's fate is now finely balanced heading into their final fixture against Fluminense next week at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
CARDOSO REACTS TO DORTMUND DEFEAT
“We made one season playing our style of football and didn’t make one single mistake, today we made two on build-up, do you think I have any capacity to complain about my players when they gave me so much? For one mistake,” he asked.
“Football is a game of mistakes, I have made many mistakes when I choose players, there’s more than 15-20 players I can’t play, so there’s mistakes. So I support these players highly, that’s what I did at half time.
“Most of my talk was to support the players, sitting by their side, saying let’s do this together because it would be very easy to penalise a player like Teboho, but how can I penalise a player that has an intentionality to well but the level of pressure is so much higher in games like this.
“The number of pressures they are submitted to is so high, that mistakes can happen, so I supported the boys – there’s no other way in this club, with me, until the end, it’s just support and then training, and support and training.
“How can I build trust that when there’s a mistake I don’t give them trust? As much as you give the most I give back…. that’s my approach.”
