Downs coach questions officials after brutal Teboho Mokoena tackle

The Portuguese mentor felt referee Philangenkosi Khumalo did little to shield the Bafana Bafana international during Sundowns’ 3-2 victory over Polokwane City in the MTN8 quarterfinal at the weekend.

Mokoena subsequently missed Sundowns’ opening Betway Premiership fixture away to TS Galaxy on Tuesday night, with Cardoso explaining why the midfielder was unavailable and providing an update on his situation.

"I think it's important that South Africa understands that we have to protect our players. We cannot make Mokoena to be a national hero after the World Cup, and then when he plays his first match on South African soil, we allow such aggressive action towards him without even being penalised with a yellow card."

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Cardoso reiterated his stance of VAR arguing that Sundowns were punished for alleged harsh fouls last season when in fact they were mild in comparison to their league rivals throughout the campaign. 

"We were one of the teams that had more yellow cards throughout the season. The highest number was 58 yellow cards and we received 53. Just to compare, Orlando Pirates had half the number of yellow cards. We just want the games to be played in a normal way and we want our players to be protected by the referees, but they unfortunately have no help because in South Africa we continue to have no VAR. Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Mauratania, and Tunisia all have VAR. Even Benin and Ghana have started with experiments and VAR training."

The Sundowns coach added that the match officials themselves have admitted that they need VAR intervention to correct their mistakes.