Cardoso slams Sundowns' lack of intensity

THERE was no search for cover, no refuge in rotation, no convenient shelter behind fixture congestion when Mamelodi Sundowns bowed out of the Nedbank Cup.

- SMISO MSOMI

Instead, Miguel Cardoso stood squarely in the firing line, offering a frank diagnosis of a night where standards slipped and punishment followed. Sundowns' 2-0 defeat to TS Galaxy was settled long before the closing stages, decided by two first-half mistakes that stripped the Brazilians of control and handed the initiative to opponents who understood the moment better.

On a day of shocks in the Nedbank Cup, Cardoso did not pretend otherwise.

"The team that played here is obviously not the team that played before," he said, acknowledging the wholesale changes to his starting lineup.

Yet, the coach was emphatic that personnel could not be the headline.

"The level of emotional need should at the same level as it was in the two previous games, but it was not."