Miguel Cardoso blames the pitch for Mamelodi Sundowns' Nedbank Cup elimination by TS Galaxy 'It was very difficult to play quality football here'

When the season began, Mamelodi Sundowns and their fans believed they were in a better position to collect all the trophies they would contest for.

First, they were knocked out of the MTN8, before failing to successfully challenge for the Carling Knockout. Then the dream was to chase the Nedbank Cup, but that dream disappeared after being knocked out by TS Galaxy.

While analysing their match against Galaxy, Sundowns tactician Miguel Cardoso explained why they struggled and eventually lost the Round of 16 encounter.

“2-0 is not the same as 1-0; it’s a very difficult place to be, especially on a pitch where you cannot play the football you want to play. It was very difficult to play quality football here. But it was ourselves who couldn’t convert our chances,” said Cardoso, as per iDiski Times.

“There were four or five unbelievable chances that we had to score; I remember Tashreeq [Matthews] in the second half. I remember one from Brayan [Leon], and I remember one from Peter [Shalulile], the shots. That’s the turning point we were looking for.

“I was confident that we were going to find that turning point, that goal that could put pressure on the other side, create some panic, and light the fire in the stadium that would also give us energy. It didn’t happen, and because of that, we are penalised. There is not much more to say," he added.

Apart from the pitch, Cardoso said that the loss to Galaxy has to be blamed on the players that were deployed for the game.

"Look, we need to be objectively clear on the analysis; the goals that we suffered had to do with the line-up," the former Esperance head coach continued.

"There are individual mistakes that you obviously cannot make. It’s time to go home and rest, please, and obviously understand who’s able to be on the level of those matches or not.

“Because we cannot make those mistakes, it means everything is wrong; it’s not just evaluation that we need to do, we need to go beyond that, but we also need to understand who deserves these opportunities that we’re giving them," the 53-year-old concluded.

After failing to successfully challenge for all the domestic cups, the focus now is defending the Premier Soccer League title.

Continentally, Masandawana hope to have a better campaign in the CAF Champions League. Last season, they were beaten in the final by Pyramids FC of Egypt, but the question this season is, can the Pretoria heavyweights go all the way this time around?