Sundowns turn to PSL for help – ‘We tried four teams and no one wants to play’

Mamelodi Sundowns have requested the Premier Soccer League to come to their aid as the club wants to effectively represent the country in the CAF Champions League.

The Brazilians are the only team from Mzansi in the CAF inter-club's top-tier competition following the elimination of Orlando Pirates at the hands of St Eloi Lupopo. Masandawana reached the final last season before falling to Pyramids, who had eliminated Bucs in the semi-final stage.

The former Esperance coach argues that playing a lot of domestic football, especially in CAF weeks, does not help fly the country's flag high on the continent. 

Masandawana representing Mzansi football

“Sundowns had a lot of matches ahead, so we play matches in the middle of the week consistently because we believe we could go far in the [CAF] Champions League, as we did last year,” he told the media.

“We wanted to have the weeks of the Champions League full, so that we don't judge our players and I would remind everybody that when there's a South African team playing in the Champions League, it's not only representing the club or the badge that we have on the jersey but South African football. 

“It's important that everybody knows that. When we try to clean the weeks from matches so that we can play Champions League on the right stages and be on the path to compete with the biggest teams, because the biggest teams in Africa, they don't play in the middle of the week, never because their championship is not like that,” Cardoso added.

Some teams don't want their matches to be brought back

“It's important that everybody knows that. When we try to clean the weeks from matches so that we can play Champions League on the right stages and be on the path to compete with the biggest teams because the biggest teams in Africa, they don't play in the middle of the week, never because their championship is not like that,” Cardoso continued.

“What I mean is, last year and this year, we pushed some matches back in order to clean the fixtures, with our expectations of going far in the Champions League, as we are trying to go through the group stages, we can fight for the best position in the Champions League.

“Anyway, I go directly to what you said, and I wanted to make this comment because, for example, we are trying to play a match next weekend. So, after Pirates [Orlando], we play on Wednesday again, TS Galaxy and we are going team by team in the PSL to see who can accept to play against us on Sunday. But already we tried four [teams] and no one wants to play,” he concluded.