Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says he’s trying not to focus his attentions on Orlando Pirates as the race for the Betway Premiership heats up.
The Betway Premiership leaders recorded a convincing 4-1 victory over 10-man TS Galaxy on Saturday with Peter Shalulile opening the scoring after just one minute at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium.
Iqraam Rayners was next on target after seven minutes before Sphiwe Mahlangu reduced the deficit with 10 minutes played.
Sepana Letsoala then saw red after 26 minutes before Rayners fired in a third just three minutes after the half-time break. Jayden Adams sealed the result with his goal on 38 minutes.
Pirates, meanwhile, came from a goal down to beat Cape Town City 2-1 and are currently 12 points behind the league leaders but with three games in hand.
Cardoso said in the Citizen: “I know they have games in hand and at some point, they have to play these games, and if we win our games, it can eventually be an advantage. But if we lose points, it won’t be like that, so let’s wait and see.”
Sundowns have been almost unstoppable this season but have lost two league matches, including against TS Galaxy recently.
Cardoso added: “We’ve got an advantage after the match (against Pirates) and two days later, we immediately lost three points away to Galaxy, so we need to focus on our job. We need to win games so that we obviously have a number of points that, in the end, allow us to win the league, but there are still a lot of games.”
Downs are next in action against high-flying Sekhukhune United on Wednesday and Kaizer Chiefs at the weekend.
“We train one way, and we should also play the way we train. We respect all our opponents, we’ll respect Sekhukhune, and we’ll work hard to understand how to play against them, and then also work hard on the right mindset to approach that game because the next game is the most important one of our lives.” explained the Downs mentor.