'We are a team that takes risks’ - Mamelodi Sundowns’ Ronwen Williams defends costly mistake against Borussia Dortmund, while coach Miguel Cardoso commends Masandawana’s quality of football despite the defeat

In their second Fifa Club World Cup clash, Mamelodi Sundowns suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat in a thrilling encounter at TQL Stadium in Ohio on Saturday, 21 June.

Despite taking the lead through Lucas Ribeiro and adding second-half goals from Iqraam Rayners and Lebo Mothiba, it wasn’t enough to seal victory.

After the match, goalkeeper Ronwen Williams addressed his costly early error that allowed Felix Nmecha to equalise, while coach Miguel Cardoso praised the high standard of football at the tournament and commended his players for rising to the occasion.

“It’s not nice to concede a goal like that but we are a team that takes risks and before I received the ball, I saw Tebza (Teboho Mokoena) there but he got a call from Marcelo (Allende) to move away. So, yeah, it was just one of those unfortunate situations. But, we learn from it and we keep going,” Williams told reporters.

“We showed that we can compete. Yes, they are physically bigger, but it’s all about the mind; if your mentality is right, you can go out there and compete with the best and that’s what we showed today. We had very good chances in the first half and I’m proud of the boys for the effort, the desire and the fight. The gap is not that big and we proved that once again today,” he added.

“All of their goals were mistakes, errors from us and at this level, you get punished. Where we come from you get away with it and these are good lessons. We shouldn’t be disappointed 

That’s our style. We are always going to try to play it from the back, it was just unfortunate it didn’t go our way this time,” the goalkeeper concluded.

“Today we pushed the level of the game to the maximum, to the highest level and we could play an open game with such a strong opponent,” coach Miguel Cardoso told the media.

“I think it is important that people understand who Borussia Dortmund is so that they can highlight the quality of the game that was played today from Sundowns' part. Yes, we are not happy, but despite that, we are proud. I am very proud of the level of football that the players played. I’m very proud of the resilience they had throughout the game, so that we could finish the game playing for a result, a victory. But we also need to understand that when we play teams like this, they will penalise you,” the Portuguese added. 

“It was a hell of an experience for these players. I think that from this match, we went through a lot, we need to obviously look forward to the rest of the competition, because we also understand that we can compete with these kinds of teams. That’s the expectation that we will take into the next match, that we can compete,” he concluded.

Masandawana currently occupy second place in Group F, having secured a victory over South Korea’s Ulsan in their opening match.

Meanwhile, German heavyweights Dortmund lead the group standings with four points from their first two fixtures, putting them in a strong position to advance.

With a few costly mistakes to address, Sundowns will return to the drawing board as they gear up for their next test in the tournament.

The South African Premier Soccer League champions are set to face Brazilian side Fluminense on Wednesday, 25 June, in what promises to be another tough encounter.