After they were held to a 1-1 draw by Orlando Pirates at Loftus on Saturday, Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso said this season is going to be closely contested.
With the share of the spoils, the Brazilians maintained a slender two-point lead at the top of the Betway Premiership standings over second-placed Sekhukhune United.
They lead Pirates by three points but it’s important to note Sundowns have played two more matches than the Buccaneers who have won six and drawn one of the last seven league matches.
They return to league action on Wednesday with Sundowns hosting TS Galaxy at Loftus and Pirates hitting the road to face Golden Arrows at King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium.
“When I say the league is going to be tough, I mean clubs have raised the level,” said Cardoso after the draw with Pirates.
“You must have seen that Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs had strong preseasons by going abroad to find opponents. They were strong in the market, Pirates made changes but you can’t feel the difference.
“They have the luxury of [being able to not have to field] players like Kamogelo Sebelebele and Relebohile Mofokeng who was fighting for the best player award with Lucas Ribeiro last season.
“They don’t feel the difference and it is clear the squad is much bigger than in recent seasons. That has to do with how they went into the market during the transfer window.
“I see the same with Chiefs. On Friday they won the match from the bench, even Gaston Sirino now sits on the bench. Teams are raising the level and when the level goes up it is obvious things will be more equal.”
Sundowns have only lost one league match this season and Cardoso said they did not have a good start.
“We didn’t start the season in the best way we would have liked because of the conditions that we had. We wanted to win, if you were in the locker room at halftime you could have seen how much we wanted to win this match. There is no other mentality, despite people saying, ‘coach you are defensive.’
“It is not true. We wanted to bring energy to win the match and at halftime I was hard on the players in terms of mindset and attitude. I told them to be brave and go after the match and I thought they were brave.
“They could not again but they were brave. When you have Themba Zwane, Mothobi Mvala, Thapelo Morena, Reisinho, Teboho Mokoena, Divine Lunga, Lebogang Mothiba, Malibongwe Khoza, Kutlwano Lathlaku, the team is not on the same level.
“But I don’t complain because I saw character from my players. We could have seen better and we believe we can do better.”
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