Mamelodi Sundowns coach adamant Siwelele outplayed despite draw

Although the hosts opened the scoring, the Brazilians’ mentor felt his opposite number, Lehlohonolo Seema, was ultimately content to settle for a Betway Premiership point.

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Cardoso maintains Sundowns were the superior team on the night and believes they deserved a victory that would have taken them back to the top of the table.

''This kind of games they always have a story that is very easy to tell. Yes there was a draw but the reality is that there's a team that fought from the very beginning wanting to win this match. I think we started well and brought the kind of dynamics we wanted inside the pitch and obviously there's a mistake which brought some energy to the opponents. That  challenged the emotional state of my players, but with the experience we have we should not let that get to us but continue to be loyal to ourselves. And we know we should have scored more," said Cardoso.

The coach also raised concern over the red card given to midfielder Teboho Mokoena when Sundowns were on the front foot.

"Indeed we were not able to finish strong in the first half, but we made the changes in the second half. And then the story of the match we had to play the last 15min with less than one player. It was clear that my player just played the ball and nothing on the opponent and he received the second yellow card. The story of the game can be told in different ways but for the ones that are fair and clever in the way they see the game, there's another story to be told," added Cardoso.

Cardoso made it clear that the outcome of the match was never a true reflection of how Sundowns applied themselves at the Dr Molemela Stadium.

"If you want to look at the result and make a story out of the result you can tell another story. We fought for the three points against a team that is honest and has the capacity to organise, and we had to risk a lot. It is a pity that we didn't finish the job," he expressed.

The Portuguese mentor closed by wishing Bafana Bafana well at the AFCON, while also offering a brief explanation for why several Sundowns players were left out of the squad.