Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso is anticipating a demanding test as his team prepares to face Marumo Gallants in the Carling Knockout Cup Round of 16 this Saturday at Lucas Moripe Stadium.
Despite winning the last seven league titles, the Brazilians are under immense pressure to finally dominate domestic cups, especially after losing last season’s Carling Knockout final and exiting this year’s MTN8 in the semi-finals to Orlando Pirates.
Read: Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou outlines club’s recent success driver
Cardoso is wary of Gallants, who have proven to be a difficult opponent, even managing a 1-1 draw against Sundowns in September.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s game, Cardoso said in the Citizen: “We need to understand that their game is hard to control in terms of pressing the spaces upfront. We need to have good control of the match in terms of ball possession.
“We need to be much more aggressive and more controlling. We don’t expect Marumo to be a different team because that’s how they have been playing throughout the season but we should expect a different Sundowns and the players will know what kind of game we had.”
“We have an obligation to fight and win all the competitions. We all know that we played Marumo recently away and we all know that they haven’t lost against us, Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs, so we expect a tough match,” the head coach added.
“We are preparing the best way and I had a chance this week to prepare a match with three training sessions, which is unique for us.
“We should understand what kind of game we have to play and the level of intensity we need to put in from the beginning so that we don’t give too many chances for Marumo to threaten us.”
With a rare three full training sessions this week, Sundowns aims to put in the intensity required from the first whistle to ensure they progress in the cup. The two teams will lock horns at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Saturday, kick off is at 20H00.