Sundowns’ reason for dropping Zwane

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Mamelodi Sundowns maestro Themba Zwane was apparently meant to start in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Chippa United.

WHY THEMBA ZWANE WAS DROPPED

According to coach Miguel Cardoso, the pitch condition at the Buffalo City Municipality Stadium was unsafe for the 35-year-old Sundowns ace.

“Well, yesterday [referring to Tuesday], Chippa United were very kind to allow us to have a small training session here [Buffalo City Stadium,” the Portuguese coach told the media at the post-match conference.

“It’s a beautiful stadium, and we had a training session because we travelled early in the morning. We also had the chance to understand that there’s a lot of sand on the pitch, which was visible to everybody. So, I decided not to risk Themba [Zwane]. You know Themba is coming back from an Achilles injury, which was quite severe,” the Sundowns mentor added.

“So, it can be very tricky for him to play on a pitch with these kinds of conditions. Such beautiful stadiums, I’m sure they will have a beautiful football ambience.

“It’s really important to protect the players in order to avoid injuries, and Themba had a particular situation where he is coming back from injury and is getting better and getting playing minutes. I believe he expected to find a way to play today [referring to Wednesday], for sure, but everybody has to understand that my job is to protect my players,” Cardoso concluded.