THE COACH of Mamelodi Sundowns, Miguel Cardoso, understands that they have to tread carefully in the remaining games because they have been ambushed from both sides.
The coach said his players should not be careless as they lost the points that would have brought them back to the top of the Betway Premiership log.
Sundowns, who had the chance to overtake Orlando Pirates at the top of the log, drew 1-1 with Stellenbosch FC on Wednesday night, at Loftus Versveld Stadium, Pretoria.
This result kept Pirates on top despite being one game ahead of Sundowns, with six league games remaining.
Orlando Pirates will face Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium, Sunday at 3 pm. Mamelodi Sundowns will visit Richards Bay FC at Mhlathuze Sports Complex, on the same day at 5.30 pm.
Although Cardoso was preaching the gospel of avoiding negligence in his team, it ended up sounding like his speech was aimed at Khulumani Ndamane who created a penalty in the last minutes.
“There is no more time to teach each other because all the results we get have a positive impact if it is in our favor or bad as happened in Stellenbosch,” said Cardoso.
“I agree that there are still some screws that need to be tightened in him because he (Ndamane) is still young, but there was no need to act the way he did. Last time, in the Caf Champions League, he scored a great goal but this time he was careless. There are many ways he could have avoided the situation we found ourselves in.
“He’s not the only one, but we didn’t use the opportunities we had throughout the game,” said Cardoso.
This coach from Portugal talks like this, Ndamane is one of the players who looks like he will get a place in the Bafana Bafana squad going to the World Cup.
In this squad, Ndamane competes for the same place with Bekezeli Mbokazi, Nkosinathi Sibisi, Ime Okon, Grant Kekana and Siyabonga Ngezana.
Recently, the coach of Lamontville Golden Arrows, Manqoba Mngqithi, came out and pointed out the flaws in Hugo Broos’ squad, especially in the central defenders.
“When I think about the experience of the strikers we will face in the World Cup and look at our stoppers who have to stop them, I am left with questions instead of answers,” said Mngqithi about the squad Ndamane is a part of.