Sundowns coach Cardoso turns attention to Kaizer Chiefs and Al Ahly

After Mamelodi Sundowns booked a place in the 2024-25 Champions League semifinals with a 1-0 aggregate win over Tunisian side Esperance, coach Miguel Cardoso turned his attention to Kaizer Chiefs and Al Ahly. 

Sundowns won 1-0 in the first leg at Loftus last week through a second-half goal by Peter Shalulile in a match marred by crowd violence after the final whistle. 

In a second leg where VAR ruled out a second half goal by Esperance, Sundowns pulled off a commendable 0-0 draw at Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Radès, outside Tunis, on Tuesday night to march on. 

Downs have avenged last season’s defeat by the Tunisians, who knocked them out at the semifinal stage while they were coached by Cardoso. 

The grind of a punishing schedule continues for the Brazilians as they are expected in the country on Wednesday to start preparations for their big Nedbank Cup semifinal clash against Chiefs at Loftus on Sunday. 

Next weekend they welcome record 12-time winners Al Ahly in the Champions semifinal first leg in Pretoria (April 18), where they will be looking to give themselves an advantage before the return leg in Cairo on April 25. 

“We know over the past seven to eight years Al Ahly have won a lot of Champions League titles,” said Cardoso, who will have a personal score to settle against the Egyptian giants who beat him and Esperance 1-0 on aggregate in last season's final. 

Sundowns and Al Ahly have a storied history of intense rivalry and Cardoso believes they can beat the 107-year-old Cairo club. 

“Unfortunately last year I lost in the final against them [Al Ahly] but I think it is possible to beat them. I know we need to have two strong games where we must focus on details.

“It is not that far away but before that we have a tough Nedbank Cup semifinal [against Kaizer Chiefs]. After that we will start thinking about the Champions League match against Al Ahly.”

Sundowns overcame a hostile atmosphere at the packed, 65,000-seat ground. Some Esperance supporters showed their disgruntlement with their team by hurling missiles at the players after the game.

“I didn’t see what happened in the end of the match. I came running to the dressing room because I didn’t want to have emotions,” Cardoso said.

“Knowing Esperance gave me a small advantage to prepare the players emotionally. 

“It was tough to help the players but they were on a high level, they focused on what they had to do. They concentrated on football and not what was happening around them.

“It was not easy, we knew what level of the game we had to play against a team that played in the final last season. Having said that, we knew we had the capacity and quality to beat them. 

“The challenge we put on our players was how to be stronger as a team to beat Esperance. Tactically we approached the game in the right way to control the offensive capacity and have the possibility of scoring a goal. 

“We didn't score but we were strong enough not to suffer and play the game according to what it was asking from us. I tried to help the players as much as I could. 

“There was a moment where I realised it was time to reinforce the back and close the game. The players were so professional and capable of doing it. I can only praise them.” 

Al Ahly ended second in Group C on 10 points, four behind winners Orlando Pirates. They overcame Sudan's Al-Hilal 2-0 on aggregate in their quarterfinal after a 1-0 home win with Tuesday night's victory by the same score line in Nouakchott.