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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has welcomed a rare break in the schedule and outlined how he intends to make the most of it.
The Portuguese mentor, who recently reached the milestone of 50 matches in charge, has often voiced concerns about the congested calendar brought on by domestic and continental commitments.
Sundowns may finally enjoy a full week’s rest before returning to action on Saturday night when they host Marumo Gallants in the Carling Knockout.
Cardoso says the break will be used not only for recovery but also to integrate new recruits, Tsiki Ntsabeleng, Miguel Reisinho, and Nuno Santos into the squad.
"I think we all have a great opportunity this week to prepare these players for the future. This full week's rest is quite rare to have in South Africa.
"The players are training today, but they are off resting for the next two days because they come from a hectic schedule."
While Santos has already made two appearances since he arrived at Chloorkop, the coach was non-committal about when Reisinho would make his debut.
Cardoso did, however, acknowledge the need to have more options in attack over the next several weeks. This opens the door for Reisinho.
"If Reisinho shows the capacity for 20-30 minutes of game time, we have no problems, because we are lacking the capacity to introduce more attacking players from the bench; we only had three for this match."
Reflecting on the transfer window, Cardoso felt Sundowns simply ran out of time to recruit even more reinforcements.
"We could not conclude two or three other bits of business in time, and the fact that we left it a little late, was not because we wanted it to be that way.
"Some of the players that we tried to sign, we could not get over the line because of this and that."
