Fans chant for Pitso Mosimane as Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso brushes off criticism

After a brace by Al-Hilal’s Abdelrazig Omer foiled Mamelodi Sundowns’ victory bid, coach Miguel Cardoso found himself in the hot seat, fielding some intense questions at Friday’s post-match press conference at Loftus.

Sundowns were held to a disappointing 2-2 draw against their Sudanese rivals, leaving the home crowd with a rather unsettling vibe. The buzz on social media didn’t go unnoticed by one reporter, who challenged Cardoso over the choice of night games instead of the more traditional afternoon fixtures.

The gist of the social media thread was that night games attracted fewer spectators, thereby sparing Cardoso a measure of vocal criticism. Sundowns have endured a mixed bag of results lately and, crucially, have surrendered the Premiership table leadership to rivals Orlando Pirates.

The reporter put it to Cardoso that fans were suggesting supporters from further afield couldn’t attend night games, which helped shield him from the supporters' ire. The question raised Cardoso’s hackles, and he didn’t hold back in his fiery response.

“So it was not because of the coach, because I read, or at least I was told, some nice things about why the coach put the match at night. He didn’t want the stadium to be full? Come on, don’t joke with this, and with us, and with our fans,” said Cardoso.

“We want our fans to come in numbers. We don’t think the match is that late. We think that everybody should understand that we at Sundowns always worry about our decisions regarding performance and performance and performance.

“And indeed, that’s why we decided to play on a Friday, to split the time between the two matches. I don’t know if you know, but we play tomorrow. After tomorrow, we’re going to give the players a rest. On the following day, we train in the morning, and we travel to Polokwane. We play in Polokwane on Tuesday. On that day, after the match, we come back here. On the following day, we travel to Rwanda.

“So it’s very hectic and quite demanding. Are we maximising this team’s recovery capacity? Are we not going to play to the team’s maximum capacity? That’s the only worry the coach and the sporting director of this club have when we schedule matches.”

While Cardoso poured his heart into his explanation, the Sundowns fans stayed behind at the venue as they usually do. However, instead of their usual club songs, they chanted to drumbeats: ‘We want Pitso — we love you’. There may be more to this than meets the eye — or the ear.