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Cardoso calls on Sundowns to be brave against Galaxy

football03 November 2025 14:30| © Backpage TXT
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Miguel Cardoso © Backpagepix

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso wants to see more of the same character from his team when they host TS Galaxy in the Betway Premiership at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Wednesday.

Kick-off is at 7.30pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)

CURRENT FORM

Cardoso hit back at claims that he's too defensive after the Brazilians played out to a 1-1 draw with title rivals Orlando Pirates at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Masandawana enjoyed the lion's share of the possession, but they only managed seven attempts at goal - one less than the Buccaneers, who equalised through Cemran Dansin after Peter Shalulile opened the scoring on 20 minutes.

Bafana ba Style have won just two of their last five league matches, but they remain two points clear of Sekhukhune United at the top of the table, having played one game more.

The Rockets made a good recovery after losing their opening two fixtures of the season, embarking on a five-match unbeaten run to climb into the top eight.

However, back-to-back defeats against Magesi and Pirates halted their momentum before Adnan Beganovic's side returned to winning ways by beating Stellenbosch 2-0 on 2 November.

Galaxy are in a three-way tie with Golden Arrows (7th) and Polokwane City (8th) on 16 points in sixth position and trail Sundowns by six with a game in hand.

WHAT WAS SAID

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso: "Despite people say, 'you're a defensive coach', that's bull****. So what I mean, it's not true. We wanted to win the match and at halftime I was very hard on my players in terms of mindset, in terms of attitude because for this match we had an expression all week.

"Nobody kills an attitude, and at halftime I said is that the attitude nobody is able to kill, the one we had when we conceded a goal because I was a little bit of 'what is in your mind guys' after you suffer a goal.

"Do you want to be brave or do you want to feel fear because if you want to feel fear, you won't play at the level, you have to play. If you're brave you can go for the match, to win it and I think they were brave, they fought.

"What I saw from my players was character, so I go along with what you said, I think we saw character. Could we have done better? Yes. Do we believe we will do better? Yes, but probably two of the best teams [in South Africa] were on the pitch."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Mamelodi Sundowns - Peter Shalulile has been biding his time patiently as he continues to play second fiddle to Iqraam Rayners at Chloorkop. But the Namibian hitman is still as reliable as ever after scoring his third goal of the season against the Sea Robbers, having become the all-time leading scorer in South Africa with his winner against Stellenbosch on 30 August.

TS Galaxy - Seluleko Mahlambi has really stepped up since being promoted to the first team at the start of the season. The 21-year-old winger opened his account with a brace against Siwelele and scored his sixth goal in seven games in the 2-0 win over the Maroons last time out. He is now just goal behind Junior Dion in the race for the Golden Boot.

Head-to-Head: (Last Five Betway Premiership Matches)

Matches - 5

Sundowns wins - 3

Galaxy wins - 1

Draws - 1

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