“Resilience is an important aspect in playing championship matches and consistency is also an important value,” Cardoso said.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso is expecting more twists and turns in the battle for Betway Premiership honours.
The Portuguese made this observation after his team’s 2-1 loss to Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
READ MORE: Pirates pass Sundowns test to keep title race alive
The Brazilians, who have 58 points after 23 games, are still favourites to lift a record-extending eighth successive league trophy. The Buccaneers are 15 points behind the log leaders with four games in hand.
If Pirates win all their outstanding matches, they will be just three points behind Sundowns, which could potentially set up a tense finish to the championship race.
“I don’t even know when the next championship game is because we have games to play before that. Resilience is an important aspect in playing championship matches and consistency is also an important value,” Cardoso said.
“When we face championship matches again, we’ll play them like it’s the last one of our lives. There’s no other way to do it rather than to do that and fight for points until the end. I’m sure both Sundowns and Pirates will still lose points because there are still tough matches to play.
“Let’s hope we can minimise as much as possible the losses and it would be fantastic because if we win all our matches until the end. It will give us what we want and this championship will be played until the end, that’s for sure.”
Sundowns lost their heads early into the game as Relebohile Mofokeng’s quick-fire brace in the opening five minutes set Pirates on their way to the crucial victory. Khuliso Mudau pulled one back for the reigning champions in the 66th minute, but the Soweto giants held on to bag maximum points.
“It was quite a difficult match after we suffered the second goal. We knew that taking too much risk could expose us more, and from that, we could suffer more goals,” Cardoso added.
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“I told the boys that a match like this can’t just be played with the heart but also can’t be played with just the brain. It’s important that both of them are also present because too much heart will not bring out the best positioning and the best capacity to tactically analyse what is happening inside the pitch. Lack of heart also doesn’t help because then you don’t have the proper energy for such a responsibility.”
