Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has expressed frustration over the growing number of red cards his team has received this season.
Following their 3-1 victory over Marumo Gallants at Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium, goalkeeper Denis Onyango was shown a red card in the dying minutes of the match.
This incident brought Sundowns’ total to seven red cards across all competitions this season, with six of those occurring under Cardoso’s management.
Cardoso was particularly critical of how easily the red cards are being handed out to his players, suggesting that the frequency of such decisions is becoming concerning.
“The way the game finished wasn’t the best, in terms of dealing with [another] red card, the cards are becoming too easy to be given to our players, it has nothing to do with Marumo,” Cardoso said during his post-match press conference.
“It has to do in general with teams against Sundowns always find moments to stop the game, to deal with moments where we are stronger, closer to [scoring] and it happened again – it’s a way to manage the game, I can’t say anything.
“But it those moments I never see yellow cards for players [time wasting], and then we saw Denis, he had to kick a ball in front, he received a yellow card and then after that it was an action for a second yellow and the red…
“I think the red cards for Sundowns are becoming cheap, they are coming out very easy.”
He also pointed out the inconsistency in officiating, especially with regard to time-wasting. “In these situations, I don’t see yellow cards being shown to players for time-wasting.
Then, we saw Denis being forced to clear the ball from in front of him, which led to him receiving a yellow card. Shortly after, he got a second yellow and was sent off,” Cardoso continued. “It’s becoming clear that red cards for Sundowns are being given out far too easily.”
Despite the setback, Cardoso praised his team’s resilience in handling the situation. With no substitutions left, they had to improvise, placing outfield player Tapelo Morena in goal for the final six minutes of the game.
“They coped very well with the situation as we had no more susbtitutions to do, so we had to find a solution, Tapelo was the player we decided to put in goal because he has experienced it already,” Cardoso said.
“It was important to manage that six minute and have the ball as much as possible – in that moment we had to deal with the freekick…
“But okay thank God it was not on target and after that it was quite simple to manage the game as our players have the quality to keep the ball as much as possible and deal with one or two counter attacks, it wasn’t as difficult as it could have been.”
With the victory, Sundowns extended their lead to 12 points over second-placed Orlando Pirates, who now have three games in hand after their match against Golden Arrows was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Mamelodi Sundowns will be in action this weekend against TS Galaxy – team which infamously handed Cardoso his first league defeat in the South African topflight since his appointment. Kick off at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium is set for 17:45 on Saturday, 22 February 2025.