Cardoso explains Colombian León’s blistering start to life at Sundowns

Colombian striker Brayan León has hit the ground running at Mamelodi Sundowns and coach Miguel Cardoso has attributed his blistering start to the way he was welcomed at Chloorkop.

León, who arrived in the country in the January transfer window, has endeared himself to the Brazilians supporters with six goals from seven matches in all competitions.

He increased his Sundowns tally on Wednesday night when he scored a poacher’s brace in quick succession as the defending champions beat Orlando Pirates 2-1 in their huge Betway Premiership title-chasing clash at FNB Stadium.

Pirates (38 points from 17 games) could have pulled away to a nine-point lead had they won. Instead, Downs (35 from 16) reeled Bucs into a three-point gap and have a game in hand.

This was his second brace in as many games as León also proved decisive last weekend when Sundowns beat MC Alger at Loftus Versfeld in another pressure match to advance to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The win at FNB Stadium saw second-placed, eight-time successive champions Sundowns close the gap from Pirates to three points on the log, making the race for the Premiership title over the coming weeks exciting and wide open.

“The adaptation of the players who arrived this season in Brayan, Nuno Santos and Miguel Reisinho has been good because of the group of players we have,” Cardoso said.

“We have worked hard to make them identify with the way we want to play. There needs to be fusion in characteristics of the players who have arrived with the way we play and that’s what we have been doing.

“Scoring goals gives León energy and he scored a goal in the first friendly match he played during our preparations.”

Though León is enjoying a fine run of form, Cardoso pointed out the job of scoring goals is also on Peter Shalulile, Iqraam Rayners and Lebo Mothiba.

“If it is not Brayan [scoring goals], it will be Peter, Iqraam or Lebo and we still trust Bennet Mokoena, who is mostly with the DStv Diski team.

“As coaches we depend a lot on the players. We just need to provide them with conditions to perform. We need to give them conditions to be good emotionally and they were welcomed very well.

“For him [León] there was acceptance from the group because he showed quality. Seeing him dance in the same choreography with the players means he is inside the team dynamics.

“When I saw that, I found it interesting and it means they work together in the locker room by themselves. Let’s hope together the boys can continue to perform because there are so many challenges ahead.”

Sundowns turn their attention to the Nedbank Cup last 16 where they travel to TS Galaxy at Solomon Mahlangu Stadium on Saturday.

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