Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has vowed to fight until the very end in defence of their Betway Premiership title.
The Brazilians will face TS Galaxy at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night in their final match of what has been a drama-filled league campaign.
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Sundowns are also keeping one eye on the first leg of the CAF Champions League final against AS FAR, set to take place next Sunday at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Cardoso frustrated by fixture schedule
Cardoso expressed frustration over the demanding fixture schedule as the season heads towards a thrilling conclusion.
“It was a second match in less than 72 hours and this will be a third one. As you might understand, there will be another match that will be played in four days after a sequence of three matches in less than 72 hours,” Cardoso said after the 7-4 victory over Siwelele FC at Lucas Moripe Stadium on Saturday.
“There is obviously a lot of concern on my part as you might imagine. There’s an attempt to also manage the context, but we can’t give up on winning our matches so we will continue to the last minute of the TS Galaxy match to look for points.
“Those points are not only important for the championship but, it’s also to state ourselves in one of the best campaigns ever for Sundowns in the league. It’s important to notice that but let’s get these three points and we will speak again.”
Shortly after Sundowns’ emphatic win over Siwelele, Orlando Pirates responded with a crushing 3-0 victory over Magesi FC to strengthen their push for the 2025/26 league crown.
Pirates trail Sundowns by just three points and still have a game in hand as the title race heads into the decisive final stretch, where goal difference could prove crucial.
‘Team balance not great’
Following the latest round of fixtures, Pirates boast a goal difference of 44 compared to Sundowns’ 37 they have played a game less.
“I think today, we could have made a statement in terms of the result but for that to happen, we should not concede goals that we did,” Cardoso lamented.
“When you get a team like us that get excited about seeing goals appear one after the other, we put a lot of players in attack trying to score more goals.
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“It is obvious that the balance of the team was not the best in some moments and we paid the price because the game became too open.”
