Cardoso slams Chippa for taking Downs to ‘muddy patch’

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has slammed Chippa United for taking their league match to Buffalo City Stadium rather than a “big venue”.

The fixture was originally scheduled for Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium until the league declared conditions, including the playing field at the Gqeberha venue, unsuitable.

Cardoso, however, says his team is not receiving the same level of treatment as Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.

Sundowns played to a 1-1 draw after Antonio Van Wyk scored in the last kick of the match to rescue a point from the jaws of defeat. Defender Sirgio Kammies had opened the scoring in the 78th minute, just four minutes after he was introduced as a substitute.

Cardoso said he doesn’t understand why Chippa decided to take the game to the 16,000-capacity venue in KuGompo, instead of Kings Park Stadium in Durban, where the Gqeberha-based side hosted Pirates last month. He suggested politics is involved.

“I don’t want to make many comments. I think people need to think about the purpose, the intention and the direction they want for SA football; that’s the only thing,” Cardoso told the media after the match.

“There is a country in Africa that is different from other ones, Morocco. Just go there and watch what kind of politics and the direction of the development of the game [has taken]; and how conditions have been created so that the players [can] perform [at a] high level.

“And that is the direction that football has to take in SA because you cannot take one team to play in Durban in a big stadium and take the other to play here.”

Cardoso also questioned why Golden Arrows decided to play them in back-to-back matches at King Zwelithini Stadium but decided to take Chiefs to Mbombela Stadium for their home match on Sunday.

“You cannot go to Polokwane against Magesi on one pitch [Seshego Stadium last season] and take the other to another [vs Pirates at New Peter Mokaba Stadium],” he said.

“You cannot play two times against Arrows on the pitch we played, and immediately after, you take another team that is competing with us to a top stadium. So, there is something behind the sport policy that I don’t understand. But it is not my job to understand; you must go deeper on that and see the level of fairness.

“What I know is that in other countries things are not like this. This is not a football pitch; it is muddy.”

Sundowns will now shift their focus to the Fifa intercontinental competition against Al-Ahli Saudi at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday at 3pm.