CAFCL: Cardoso slams Sundowns attitude towards Stade Malien

Mamelodi Sundowns Miguel Cardoso has poured out his mixed emotions of seeing his team barely cross the line into the CAF Champions League semifinal stage after suffering a 2-0 loss to Stade Malien on Sunday.

The Portuguese mentor admitted that he was struggling to contain his emotions and frustrations despite sneaking through to the last-four stage 3-2 on aggregate following a home 3-0 victory over the Mali league champions.

Tested away, but strong enough over two legs. Masandawana are through to the semis. 🔥#Sundowns #TotalEnergiesCAFCL #AreyengMasandawana pic.twitter.com/udhpT3jXFI

— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) March 23, 2026

Cardoso, who knows the mental demands of competing in the continental league, told the South African Broadcasting Corporation Television that he was frustrated to realise that all the pre-match talk against complacency went to the window.

Emotional Cardoso on his mixed feelings

“There are a lot of emotions and a lot of thoughts in my head in this moment,” Cardoso said in a post-match interview after the quarterfinal second leg defeat.

“I am not happy with the first half. We tried after we arrived in Bamako to develop the right attitude towards this match. We had a lot of talk and a lot of discussions. We tried to show and explain to everybody starting from any of our staff members to the players and to ourselves as coaches that the job was still not done and that the job was still to be done.”

⚽️ Stade Malien lead 2-0
They need one more to draw level.

“We will score 3 in Bamako,” Mauril Njoya coach of the Mali side. pic.twitter.com/ilW02YZ1hs

— Mazola J. Molefe (@superjourno) March 22, 2026

Despite such pre-match caution, the Betway Premiership defending champions trailed 2-0 in the first half courtesy of Taddeus Nkeng and Haman Mandjan’s strikes at Stade du 26 Mars in Bamako, much to the disappointment of the 52-year-old coach.

Sundowns coach frustrated by sloppy performance

“In the first half, we could not adapt exactly to the game plan,” the UEFA Pro Licence holder explained.

“We could not settle down to the game we wanted to play. It looks easy when people sit on television, but I want to remember that no one has won this season here [in Bamako]. Everybody lost.

Unfortunately, we also lost; a result that does not make me happy at all especially because it comes from a first half where were very sloppy in the approach. We didn’t understand how to start the game and how to take it to the last part of it.”

The former Esperance de Tunis manager observed that Stade Melien had tweaked their game-plan by throwing more attacking players while playing long balls which troubled Sundowns defence.

How Cardoso summed up Sundowns first-half showing

The first half performance, according to Cardoso, summed up how his players went into the quarterfinal second leg match with a wrong attitude based on their 3-0 first leg result.

⚽️ 1-0 Stade Malien.

Sundowns lead reduced. pic.twitter.com/fNsqA0cXtD

— Mazola J. Molefe (@superjourno) March 22, 2026

“Mostly I said it to be boys that it was not a question of football, but a question of attitude. The right attitude to play a quarterfinal is not no doubt a very strong attitude towards pressing opponents and having the capacity to play with the ball because that is our identity,” he said.

Nonetheless, the coach added that he was encouraged by his players’ response after the break when they contained the hosts who eventually finished the game weakly due to exhaustion.

Sundowns, who finished the game with 10 men after defender Aubrey Modiba picked a red card for a reckless tackle, will now date Esperance de Tunis in the semifinal. The Tunisians knocked out Al Ahly 5-2 on aggregate.