Sundowns coach says it was a dark night for SA football

Sundowns delivered a dazzlying performance to dislodge Orlando Pirates from the top of the league.

However, Cardoso’s post-match reaction centred on what he believed were questionable officiating decisions against Betway Premiership giants.

MAMELODI SUNDOWNS SLAMS OFFICIALS

The Portuguese coach made his frustration clear during his interview with SuperSport TV. He suggested that his team had not received the respect it deserved.

“Today, is a day of a lot of emotions. I will make my best efforts to shut up and not speak too much. I think it’s another dark night for South Africa, but let people think whatever, there’s people that will sleep in a bed for sure,” Cardoso told SuperSport TV.

“Honest people that work hard, even here today you should go look at the penalties that was taken from Sundowns. I don’t want to speak too much, but whoever has conscious today should before go to sleep pray a little bit and think a little bit more together,” he added.

DURBAN CITY PUT TO THE SWORD

On the pitch, Sundowns had enough quality to overcome Eric Tinkler’s Durban City side, with Thabang Matuludi enjoying an outstanding evening.

The full-back scored twice, while Iqraam Rayners and Antonio Van Wyk also found the back of the net to complete a comfortable victory over the Citizens.

“Look, my team deserves everything but the same respect for Durban City today, our boys put the intensity, we profit obvious from freshness as we have a chance to change a lot of players from the previous match.

“Congratulations for both teams, obviously a big result for us, it’s obvious important to have a happy game with goals, congratulations for the fans, for this stadium, the management of this stadium, to have such quality of this pitch.

The result puts Sundowns back at the summit, just one point ahead of Pirates, setting up another potentially tight title battle.

Cardoso believes the way the competition is unfolding could produce a similar finish to last season.

“Look, if the league is played like we saw today, there won’t be a lot of story, we’ll have a league like last year,” Cardoso said.