Miguel Cardoso admits Mamelodi Sundowns now playing waiting game

The Betway Premiership defending champions dropped two points in Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw against Kaizer Chiefs, opening the door for Orlando Pirates to take control of the title race if they win all their remaining fixtures.  

Cardoso conceded Sundowns can now only focus on collecting the maximum six points available against Siwelele FC and TS Galaxy and then wait to see how things pan out. 

"Regarding the league, our obligation is collect the six points we have ahead of us and then wait to see what is the outcome," conceded the coach.

"So it's now to recover the players because in two days we're going to play again, and we have to earn the result against Siwelele, remembering that this Kaizer Chiefs team lost 2-0 against them, right?

"And that means we need to approach this match with a high sense of responsibility because it will not be easy, as you may imagine, especially in the situation we are where we've lost several players, as you know, to injuries."

READ: Chiefs came to kick everything - Miguel Cardoso

Cardoso emphasised that he always suspected Sundowns would come off worse for wear during a schedule that saw them play seven matches in just 21 days.

"I told you that playing seven matches in 21 days is a heroic act that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world," he added.

"I don't know if you heard this week when [Arsenal manager, Mikel] Arteta spoke about the Champions League semifinal they played and comparing the number of games played by Arsenal in the Premier League, and those played by PSG in France and Bayern Munich in Germany.

"[He highlighted] how those teams were protected and how they arrived at the end of the season, and by protect I mean managing the games and fixtures to allow them to arrive at this [stage of the season in good shape].

"It's very tough here in South Africa, with the AFCON and the time we stopped, and especially in a season that we also have a World Cup.

"But it's something we, and South Africa also, need to think a little bit about how we want the teams to arrive at the end of the season because this season no one else played international competitions until the end.

"Last year Pirates was also in the [CAF] Champions League semifinals and we had Stellenbosch doing quite well, if I'm correct."