Cardoso calls on Masandawana family to 'keep together' after Sundowns players booed by fans

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has strongly condemned the booing of his players, once again calling on supporters to stand united with the team.

Sundowns shook off their disappointing Nedbank Cup quarter-final loss to TS Galaxy with a hard-fought 1-0 win against AmaZulu on Tuesday evening at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. However, the tension from that defeat lingered.

Still reeling from the cup exit, sections of the crowd jeered the players during their warm-up ahead of the Betway Premiership clash against AmaZulu — an incident that clearly struck a nerve with the Portuguese mentor.

“Today I saw something that I had never seen and I didn’t like,” Cardoso said after the match.

“I didn’t like seeing the players being booed during their warm-up. The Masandawana family needs to keep together because the players work hard and they do not deserve to enter the pitch being booed.”

The reaction from the stands followed Sundowns’ 2-0 defeat to TS Galaxy in the Nedbank Cup last 16, a result that ended their hopes of lifting the trophy.

Cardoso has faced criticism from sections of supporters throughout an inconsistent campaign. Despite the disappointment of the weekend defeat, he believes the performance was not as poor as it was made out to be.

“It was not as horrible a game as it was spoken about. When you lose 2-0 it can seem like we did everything wrong and the other side did well, and that is not true. We did well but things didn’t happen,” he reflected.

The win over Usuthu will ease some of the pressure, keeping Sundowns firmly in the hunt for the league title. With another tough encounter against Sekhukhune United looming this weekend, Cardoso will be hoping his side can build on the momentum.

* Obakeng Meletse is Independent Media’s multi-sport writer. For fresh video content, follow our YouTube channel The Clutch