‘Champions League matches are for grown-ups and not for kids and not for naive players’
02 April 2025 – 12:00
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Marcelo Allende of Mamelodi Sundowns and Ogbelu Onuche of Esperance de Tunis challenge for the ball in their Caf Champions League quarterfinal first leg match between at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Image: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
Coach Miguel Cardoso said Mamelodi Sundowns will play for a win, not a draw, in the second leg of their Caf Champions League quarterfinal in Tunisia next week Tuesday.
Downs hold a 1-0 advantage from their first leg against Esperance de Tunis at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday thanks to Peter Shalulile’s slick 65th-minute finish.
That is an improvement from being held to a 0-0 home draw in last year’s semifinal when Rulani Mokwena was coach of Sundowns and Cardoso schemed a 2-0 aggregate victory for Esperance, who then lost 1-0 over two legs to Al Ahly in the final.
Cardoso said playing for a draw in Tunis would be foolhardy. He added, though, Downs need to be ultra-cautious in how they set up and attack, as a clever side like Esperance will capitalise on any mistakes to reverse the one-goal advantage.
The tie is delicately balanced. The Brazilians will be greeted by a hostile atmosphere at Esperance’s 65,000-seat Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi, where Cardoso’s inside knowledge prompted his sight that bravery and intelligence will be crucial for Downs.
Esperance showed their class with their ability to keep Sundowns at arms’ length at Loftus. Cardoso said how “convincing” his team might have come across is irrelevant — in the Champions League the result is everything.
“A 0-0 result would be a positive result, a 1-0 is a positive result at home, but it doesn’t mean anything,” Cardoso said.
“I believe Champions League matches are for grown-ups and not for kids and not for naive players. If you suffer a blow in the last 10 minutes then you will be crying because you will give them a major advantage.
“My job is to cope with the moments but I believe we have to play there [in Tunis] to win. And playing to win there is also about not being naive in the way you attack.
“Because there’s always a moment when you attack that you are weak and those are the moments where Esperance are very strong.”
Cardoso said Downs need to not deviate from their strength of carpet football away, but have to do everything sensibly.
He believes the goal makes for a different complexion to how Downs travelled to Tunis with a goalless result last season.
“This team is not used to playing long balls and for set pieces. When you ask players to play in a ‘discomfort situation’, I don’t think that’s the best way to approach it.
“Let’s see how we’re going to approach it. Obviously we need to be intelligent.
“I don’t feel the situation is similar to last year. The teams are different and the match will be different.
“At a certain moment [on Tuesday] I was looking to the sky and thinking, ‘Are we going to have the same as last year [0-0]?’
“What I believe is we have to play to win [away], but that means finding the right way to play to win.
“One thing I know is since we arrived at Sundowns, bravery, trust and courage are [attributes] among others we tried to implement.
“If we are brave enough there, then we are in the match. If we feel ‘less’ because there are people shouting in the stands, then we will not be in the right position to face that match.
“I was there, I felt brave teams playing against Esperance; and I felt other teams that, when the match started, felt themselves ‘like small’.
“With this attitude you don’t attack; you need to be brave.”
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