Sundowns' Cardoso defends Williams and Mokoena after defeat

'We had one season playing our style of football and we didn't make one single mistake. Today we made two mistakes on build-ups,' said Cardoso.
Miguel Cardoso, head coach of Mamelodi Sundowns during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup press conference at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, USA on 20 June 2025 © Lynne Gleeson/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has leapt to the defence of Ronwen Williams and Teboho Mokoena following his side's spirited 4-3 loss to Borussia Dortmund in their FIFA Club World Cup Group F encounter at the TQL Stadium on Saturday night.
Sundowns' dream start
The Brazilians made a dream start when Lucas Ribeiro opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a sensational solo run from the halfway line before calmly past Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
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However, the lead was short-lived after a misplaced pass by Williams handed Felix Nmecha a simple finish to equalise five minutes later.
In the 34th minute, Mokoena was caught in possession in a dangerous area, allowing Dortmund to break forward, with Serhou Guirassy heading home from Julian Brandt's cross to put the German side 2-1 up.
Dortmund struck again before the break through Jobe Bellingham who capitalised on a handling error by Williams to make it 3-1 going into half time.
'We had one season playing our style of football and we didn't make one single mistake. Today we made two mistakes on build-ups,' said Cardoso.
'I supported them at half-time. Most of my talk was to support the players and I sat on their side and told them let's go together because it would have been very easy to penalise a player like Teboho.
'But how can I penalise a player like him that has an intention to do well but the level of pressure is much higher in games like these. I supported the boys and there's no other way.'
Things went from bad to worse on the hour mark when Khuliso Mudau inadvertently turned a low cross into his own net, seemingly ending any hopes of a Sundowns comeback at 4-1.
The fightback
Impressively, goals from Iqraam Rayners and substitute Lebo Mothiba gave Cardoso's men a lifeline and ensured a nervy finish against the Bundesliga outfit, who just about held on for the win. While visibly disappointed with the result, Cardoso praised his side's character, particularly in the second half.
'I know that South Africans asked for shoe shine and piano which is beautiful football and for us to be loyal to our identity. I think today we saw that at the highest level,' Cardoso concluded.
'This is a message to South Africa to really highlight the level of football that Sundowns plays and not destroy because there's a lot of destruction around us but we're tough.
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'We need to obviously look forward to the next competition because we understand that we can compete with these kinds of teams and that is the perspective that will take into the next match.'

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