Cardoso applauds Sundowns’ maturity after CAFCL final win amid VAR chaos and crowd trouble

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso believes his troops proved their elite continental pedigree on Sunday, navigating technical failures and crowd disruptions to edge AS FAR 1-0 in the first leg of the CAF Champions League final.

A sublime, first-half free-kick from Aubrey Modiba at Loftus Versfeld Stadium was enough to hand the Brazilians a slender but invaluable advantage ahead of next week’s daunting trip to Morocco.

While Sundowns dominated large swaths of the encounter, a lack of clinical edge in front of goal meant they missed multiple opportunities to kill off the tie, leaving the blockbuster finale delicately poised.

Despite the narrow scoreline, Cardoso was full of praise for the fluid football his side produced, as well as the emotional intelligence they displayed when the match threatened to boil over.

Imagine the audacity to Pepper Spray a Police officer in a foreign country. These guys are not okay at all🤞🏽 pic.twitter.com/AzPYqLtQ4B

— Vino Snap 🇿🇦 (@snap_vino) May 17, 2026

Cardoso Speaks On ‘Beautiful’ Sundowns Victory Over AS FAR

“The most important thing is that we remember we can compete with the best teams this season and play a beautiful game, because we played a beautiful game today,” a proud Cardoso reflected post-match.

The Portuguese tactician candidly admitted that Masandawana should have travelled to North Africa with a much healthier cushion.

“Of course, we know that we could’ve scored the second goal several times to make it comfortable for ourselves,” he explained. “It’s clear that we had to score a goal before going over there, and that’s exactly what the team fought for.”

🚨 “𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧.”

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso reacts to the 1-0 first-leg win over AS FAR tonight.

He warns that the job is only half-done and promises Down will fight… pic.twitter.com/C7gxzQ1IXn

— Pan-Africa Football (@PanAfricaFooty) May 17, 2026

The high-stakes encounter unfolded against a backdrop of administrative and technical drama.

The start of the second half was thrown into limbo when a technical malfunction completely knocked out the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Rather than allowing the 22-minute delay to spark animosity, Cardoso revealed that a mutual agreement between the technical teams allowed the match to proceed smoothly under testing conditions.

“I saw great sportsmanship from both benches, even when the VAR was not working,” Cardoso revealed. “You saw me speaking to our opponents, and we told each other we represent Africa and we need to give a good example after what happened in the AFCON. We decided we should continue with the game without the VAR.”

Regrettably, the harmony on the touchline did not extend to the stands. The second stanza was marred by ugly skirmishes in sections of the stadium, where travelling Moroccan supporters clashed with local security personnel and pockets of home fans.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Michael Morton (@mikemortontalksfootball)

Despite the mounting tension in the arena, Sundowns kept their heads on the pitch, refusing to let the hostility break their tactical discipline. Looking ahead to the return leg in Rabat, Cardoso is under no illusions about the emotional and physical cauldron awaiting his team.

“We expect the second leg to be a tough match in the same way this one was. We expected AS FAR Rabat to give us situations to control at different times on the pitch, and we did well,” he concluded.