The Premiership title race could be defined by the best attack versus the best defence between Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns, as the latter's head coach Miguel Cardoso explains how he is making Downs different.
Pirates made a big statement that they are here to stay long in the title race and are prepared to boost their goal difference, should the Premiership be decided by small margins at the end of the season, following their 8-1 walloping of Marumo Gallants.
However, Masandawana remained top of the table after they overcame a red-card of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams with 32 minutes to go and edged a resilient AmaZulu 1-0 thanks to a last-minute goal by Iqraam Rayners.
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What has characterized Cardoso's reign so far at the Tshwane giants is how defensively organized he has got his team, as Masandawana are yet to concede under the Portuguese mentor, with all three games, including against Raja Casablanca and Stellenbosch ending with a 1-0 win.
"Most of all we try to attach the emotions, try to make everybody understand that each door, each ball, each moment we should give our life, we should make it in the best way," Cardoso explained his philosophy to getting Sundowns solid at the back in his post-match press conference at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
"We should believe that is the moment to make a difference, don't let time pass by if you have that moment to make a difference and also create an organisation which we can be comfortable and share values, share behaviours.
"We tried to make it in all moments of the game. We tried to increase our capacity to make good defensive transitions, that in the last two games we did so well, compared to match against Raja, because teams like Stellenbosch and AmaZulu don't give you time to press, because they like to exploit the space," the Portuguese coach said.
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"I hope in the future much better, a complete team, that's what I said in (my first) press conference, that I want the team to be complete and the team that is complete is a team that can understand all the moments of the game and the boys had that understanding (against AmaZulu).
"That's why I called them (and said), 'Hey, boys! Don't forget what's happening now, we're minus one, we should not lose sight of goal, we can do it but we cannot lose our heads and go crazy, even to press, otherwise we'll probably suffer'," the former Esperance coach added.