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Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says football clubs representing South Africa at international level deserve support from local football authorities with regards to their fixture schedule.
Cardoso was dissatisfied after Sundowns' hard-fought 1-0 Nedbank Cup quarter-final win over Sekhukhune United inside extra-time came just four days before their CAF Champions League quarter-final first leg against his former employers Esperance.
The Portuguese mentor noted his concerns that The Brazilians were not afforded enough time to prepare for the first-leg tie in Tshwane on Tuesday, pointing out that the Tunisian FA have always been supportive of their clubs ahead of such clashes.
"We do represent not only the club but we represent South Africa, and I think it's important that the people who rule football in South Africa have that capacity to understand that we should be provided the best conditions possible to compete," Cardoso told the media.
"As you know, we're going to face a team where I worked last year and still even this season, and I know how they prepare [for the] Champions League – they do everything in the country so that the teams from Tunisia can play in the best conditions.
"They last played already 10 days ago, giving them 10 days to prepare before facing us."
Cardoso, who led Esperance to the Champions League final last season, further detailed how Taraji Dawla, as the Tunisian giants are nicknamed, receive support from their Association, which also runs their domestic league.
"Even the Tunisian national team didn't have players from Esperance – obviously I'm not saying that they didn't call them up, but they had no players [in their squad], so basically they had Elias [Mokwana] at Bafana and Yusuf Belaili at Algeria, and [Abdramane] Konate at Cote d'Ivoire U20.
"But this has nothing to do with them, it means that they haven't played [domestic] championship, their last match was when we played our [last league] match, they travel [on Saturday] and train to prepare themselves, while we are playing 120 minutes.
"Obviously this match should never have been played today – this match should have been played when it was supposed to be played [on 9 March], and whatever result we would have gotten on that day, but if not on that day, they should have found some other day for whatever had to happen to the Nedbank Cup competition."
