‘We wanted several players to obviously be fresh,’ Cardoso said.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso was satisfied that his side came through their 2-0 victory over ORBIT College at Olympia Park on Tuesday night without any injury worries.
Cardoso rests players
With Friday’s CAF Champions League quarterfinal clash against Stade Malien at Loftus Versfeld looming, Cardoso opted to rest several key players for the Betway Premiership encounter in Rustenburg.
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Despite the changes, Sundowns were rarely troubled and wrapped up the result within an hour. Goals from Miguel Reisinho and Iqraam Rayners handed the Brazilians a comfortable two-goal lead, allowing the technical team to avoid calling on several senior players who remained on the bench.
“Khuliso Mudau asked to be substituted because he was feeling a little bit tired. We wanted several players to obviously be fresh,” Cardoso told SABC Sport after the match.
“We don’t know who will start the match, but we knew that we wanted to spare some players, especially the ones upfront like Arthur Sales, Nuno Santos, Tashreeq Matthews, Brayan León, Rayners and Monnapule Saleng but we could not spare all of them.”
With 20 minutes left, Cardoso rang the changes in an attempt to manage the game and give minutes to other players, including veteran midfielder Themba Zwane who is back in the Bafana Bafana squad despite limited game time.
“Saleng finished the match and he’s player hasn’t played too many matches so he doesn’t have fatigue but we have to focus on his recovery. I was shouting at him not to make long runs and sprints because they are the ones that can cause muscle injuries,” Cardoso concluded.
“Also to Iqraam and Thapelo Morena on the right because we need to approach this champions quarterfinal with matches in between like Marumo Gallants with all the players available.”
Masandawana will head into the two-legged quarter-final as favourites to progress to the semi-finals against the Malian champions. Although they failed to win any of their away fixtures in the group stage, drawing two and losing one, Malien should not be underestimated.
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They topped their group ahead of Tunisian giants Espérance and won all three of their home matches to reach the knockout phase.
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