PRETORIA — Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso and Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Khalil Ben Youssef each implied the other had benefitted from lenient refereeing calls from Luxolo Badi and his team in Wednesday’s 1-1 PSL draw at Loftus Versfeld.
Flávio da Silva scored for Kaizer Chiefs against the run of play after 25 minutes. By then, Sundowns centre-back Keanu Cupido had already been forced off by a challenge from Siphesihle Ndlovu, who was lucky not to be sent off for clattering into his collarbone or for subsequent challenges on Khuliso Mudau and Tashreeq Matthews.
Ndlovu received only a yellow card for the foul on Cupido. Jayden Adams saw yellow for a heavy lunge late in the first half which saw Mduduzi Shabalala go off with an apparent shoulder injury.
However, after Sundowns equalised through Brayan León early in the second half, Adams was later shown a second yellow card for simulation in what was a far less clear-cut offence than his earlier foul on ‘Shabba’.
“I hope that Shabalala will be back as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he got a big injury… I hope that he will be ready soon because this player was fighting to be part of Bafana Bafana and be part of the World Cup,” led Chiefs’ Ben Youssef with post-match criticism of Adams in the press conference.
“We have to protect our young players because football is not like that. We can’t expect this type of challenge and then give only a yellow card.”
Ben Youssef also took aim at Aubrey Modiba‘s 82nd minute foul on Gastón Sirino, for which the left-back received a yellow card.
“Now, we’ve lost Shabalala. We were close, also, to losing Sirino. It was the same kind of challenge – so we have to protect our young players from this kind of challenge,” he added.
Cardoso was even more scathing in his assessment of Kaizer Chiefs – accusing them of not setting up to play football and claiming that Ndlovu’s challenge on Cupido, which likely ended the centre-back’s season, was worse than Adams’ on Shabalala.
The Portuguese tactician pointed to expected goals (xG) as a sign that Sundowns dominated the game, along with possession and shots. As per FlashScore, the Brazilians’ xG was 0.93 and Chiefs’ was 0.39. Cardoso’s charges had 65% of the possession with 10 shots to Chiefs’ four, as well as six shots on target to Amakhosi’s solitary one.
Cardoso said: “When you arrive at the end and you try to remember [the game], you see one team that tried to play and another one that tried to avoid the other one playing using all the strategies that could be used: to stop the game, to make fouls, to grab. Then, of course, [there were] a lot of emotions on the pitch from the beginning to the end.
“If you take a look at the statistics of the match, it’s clear – you see the xG of the match and you see who had possibilities to score. If you look at possession, if you look at shots, if you look at everything; you have an answer on the game, whatever people may sit on this chair and want to say to make a bouquet of flowers out of something where there is no bouquet.”
Sundowns still top the Betway Premiership with 65 points from 28 games, but second-placed Orlando Pirates have a superior goal difference (+41 to Sundowns’ +34) and have 62 points from 27 matches. Chiefs are a distant third with 48 points from 27 fixtures.
If Pirates win their last three games, they will likely be Premiership champions. The Buccaneers will visit Magesi FC on Saturday before hosting Durban City on May 16 and then travelling to face Orbit College on May 23.
Mamelodi Sundowns will host Siwelele FC on Saturday and visit TS Galaxy next Tuesday (May 12) in their final two league fixtures. Cardoso’s charges will then face AS FAR in a two-legged CAF Champions League final on May 17 & 24 to bring to an end a rollercoaster season.
