Cardoso tells Downs to keep eyes on the ball

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has cautioned his troops against taking their foot off the pedal when they host Kaizer Chiefs in the Nedbank Cup semifinal at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday (6pm).

Fresh from reaching the CAF Champions League semifinal after their 1-0 aggregate win over Esperance on Tuesday, Cardoso is a bit worried that his side may take their foot off the pedal when facing Amakhosi.

The Portuguese international said he will work on his side's attitude, revealing that after winning big matches, they tend to drop the ball in their next fixture and he is demanding the same level of commitment against the Glamour Boys on Sunday.

"I spoke about it in the locker room in Tunisia not only to congratulate and praise them for the fact that they had beaten Esperance. I didn't appreciate the way we reacted in terms of games after we had big victories," Cardoso told the media during a press conference yesterday.

"I remember the first game we played against [Orlando] Pirates that we won at Loftus, then we didn't succeed in the following match. When we played Chiefs and won, we also didn't succeed in the following game.

"It means that we have a strong mental work ahead of us. I think that it is not unique for these players to play such decisive games in terms of time. What I felt in that locker room was a strong will and commitment regarding the fixture. If we feed ourselves with victories we are always in the limit and the top." 

Masandawana and Chiefs have already met three times this season across all competitions, with the Brazilians winning all of them.

But Cardoso feels those previous results will count for nothing as his side will have to be at their best to get a win again.

"As we approach the final of the competition, obviously the level of our opponents rises and we need to pay strong attention. We played them in the league. It was a very difficult match, always a strong team well-coached by [Nasreddine] Nabi," he said.

"We need to take ourselves to the limit to win the match and go into the final of this competition. We need to push the club to the highest level of capacity to play to overcome the difficulties that naturally will appear during 90 minutes."