“He just needs respect and that’s what I give to him,” Cardoso said.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has come out strongly in defence of Ronwen Williams after the goalkeeper’s costly blunder handed Siwelele FC the opening goal in Wednesday’s Betway Premiership clash at Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium.
Williams received a pass from Kegan Johannes deep inside his own area but was caught out by Tebogo Potsane, who dispossessed him before gifting Vincent Pule with a simple finish into an empty net.
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The error drew widespread criticism from Sundowns supporters on social media, particularly as it contributed to the champions dropping points in a 1-1 draw, salvaged only by a second-half equaliser from substitute Lebo Mothiba.
“We have a goalkeeper that last year was the best in Africa and this season he was nominated for the best goalkeeper in Africa,” Cardoso said.
“He has been the (number one) national team goalkeeper for several years and he doesn’t need any comment or negative appreciation. He just needs respect and that’s what I give to him.”
Sundowns’ fightback was curtailed when they were reduced to 10 men, with Teboho Mokoena dismissed for a second bookable offence with nine minutes remaining. Reflecting on the overall display, Cardoso admitted his side struggled to recover from the early setback despite a lively start.
“We started the match very well and brought the dynamics we wanted on the pitch and there’s obviously a mistake that gave our opponents some energy and that changed the emotional state of my players,” he added.
“With the experience that we have, and the level of players that we have, we should not be nervous by that and we should have continued being loyal to ourselves. I think we were not able to finish in the best way in the first half but we made corrections at half time. We brought in new players and had new energy and I think we were very ambitious.
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“We found the goal and I think there were two other occasions with just the goalkeeper to beat and it could have given us the second goal. We then had to play for 15 minutes with one player less in a situation that is clear that my player played the ball and nothing else, but he received the red card and we had to play with 10.”