Miguel Cardoso has insisted that Mamelodi Sundowns will stick to their usual enterprising style of football in the CAF Champions League final second leg, as they look to defend a 1-0 lead against AS FAR in Rabat on Sunday (May 24).
An Aubrey Modiba free-kick late in the first half sealed a 1-0 win for Sundowns Loftus Versfeld in the first leg on May 17. Cardoso has often been accused by critics of being too defensive in his tactics for Sundowns, a charge he has disputed with passion.
Not even Cardoso's fiercest critics can accuse his team of parking the bus in the first leg against AS FAR, however. Sundowns spurned several chances to extend their lead and Teboho Mokoena hit the post from another free-kick in the 84th minute.
Cardoso told the media in his post-match press conference after the first leg: "The teams must play loyal to the way they are. There's no sudden transforming of the identity of a team.
"Our identity goes beyond the will of a coach. It goes in the direction of the roots of the South African people and where this club was born, where it comes and where it continues to want to go."
Sundowns have been known for decades as 'The Brazilians', partially due to their attractive football, and Cardoso added: "Obviously, there are always strategical parts of the matches that we need to take care of, but there are... moments of the game to express [ourselves].
"Only a Mamelodi Sundowns on the level that we showed today are going to be able to overcome the difficulties that we are going to have in the second match."
Cardoso had attributed Sundowns' leaky defence in their last two league matches -- a 7-4 win over Siwelele and a 3-2 loss to TS Galaxy -- to an abandonment of their principles in search of goals to bridge the goal difference gap to Orlando Pirates in the South African Premiership.
After Sundowns ensured AS FAR left Loftus without a crucial away goal, there will be no such pressure to chase the game when the Brazilians visit Rabat in the second leg - only the pressure of holding onto a lead they already have.
If Sundowns hold on, they will become the first South African team ever to win two CAF Champions League titles. Their first came in 2016, and the only club before them from their country to win the title was Orlando Pirates in 1995.
