FIFACWC: Sundowns’ earned ‘respect from world’ despite Dortmund defeat – Cardoso

Photo Credit - Mamelodi Sundowns Media.

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has hailed his players for being brave enough and taking Borussia Dortmund to the limit despite suffering a 4-3 FIFA Club World Cup defeat against the Bundesliga giants at TQL Stadium in the USA on Saturday.

The South African champions, fresh from beating Ulsan HD in their Group F opener, stunned the German heavyweights after 11 minutes when Lucas Ribeiro found the back of the net.

Dortmund recovered from the shock within five minutes after Felix Nmecha capitalised on a mistake by goalkeeper Ronwen Williams to score into an empty net. They went 2-1 up when Julian Brandt delivered a cross that in-form Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy headed home before debutant Jobe Bellingham – younger brother of Jude – scored to make it 3-1.

Danish full-back Daniel Svensson curled a deep cross that defender Khuliso Mudau diverted past his own goalkeeper for Dortmund's fourth of the day. But Sundowns were not done yet as Iqraam Rayners reacted first to force the rebound home and make it 4-2. Substitute Lebo Mothiba ensured a tense end to the battle after he finished off a cross from Jayden Adams.

“This was a hell of an experience for the players. We grew a lot from this match. We can compete. We showed that we are on the pitch and we are not afraid. We were brave enough and took them to the limit,” said Cardoso as quoted by FIFA.com.

“Today we got a lot of respect from the world. I already heard that Dortmund will remember this match for a long time and that is absolutely beautiful for me.”

He continued: “Football is a game of mistakes, I have made many mistakes when I choose players, there’s more than 15-20 players I can’t play, so there’s mistakes. So I support these players highly, that’s what I did at half time.

“Most of my talk was to support the players, sitting by their side, saying let’s do this together because it would be very easy to penalise a player like Teboho, but how can I penalise a player that has an intentionality to well but the level of pressure is so much higher in games like this.”

Sundowns will next face Brazilians Fluminense needing victory to be certain of qualifying from the group stages.