Cardoso confesses state of Sundowns injured players
by Thato Bosoga · KickOffMamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has made a confession about an injury gamble he made and gave the latest update on the injured Keanu Cupido following their 2-1 win over Al Ahli Saudi in the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup on Saturday afternoon at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Sundowns were boosted by the return of Nuno Santos, who started for the first time this season after injury concerns and Santos made the most difference after scoring a brace that handed The Brazilians their first piece of silverware this season and progression to the third round of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the Challenger Cup.
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Cardoso revealed that he also took a gamble with Arthur Sales, who was introduced in the dying minutes, even though he is still recovering from injury.
"I confess to you, yesterday (on Friday) I spoke to Arthur and told him, 'Look Arthur, if I need to put you in the game during the second-half and we go for extra-time, don't get surprised if I take you out again," Cardoso said told Journalists at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
"Because Arthur obviously is able to play but he's still not physically fit to handle 45 or 50 minutes at the highest level. So I had a talk with him and he said, 'Coach, put me five minutes, take me (out) five minutes, I'll be on your service for whatever you need'. And this is obviously the spirit that will lead us and take us ahead."
The Portuguese mentor also revealed that the injury of Cupido was more serious than initially anticipated, after he was forced to play the CAF Champions League final second-leg against AS FAR Rabat with a shoulder and fractured collarbone injury he had picked up in the domestic match against Kaizer Chiefs.
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"I would like to remind you guys that Keanu is a strong absence but we expect him to recover, not that quickly, absolutely no. But later in the year, I think he's now starting to have a small smile on his face, that situation became a little bit more serious than we expected," Cardoso said.
"But the medical department is working very strong on it, they are trying to solve it so that we have an extra one and we gonna need everybody, as I say, when one falls down, two have to get up and that's the way we will have to progress," the former Esperance coach added.