Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi wants his players to learn from the red-card incident during their 5-1 victory over CR Belouizdad.
The Brazilians have now secured back-to-back wins in the Caf Champions League group stages after their convincing victory over CR Belouizdad in Dar es Salaam this past Saturday.
The win put Masandawana in first place in the Group B standings with six points from the two games, while extending their unbeaten run to 20 games across all competitions.
‘We must give thanks for your hospitality to everyone here in Tanzania, your kindness, your humanity was seen by all and as Mamelodi Sundowns we felt like we were at home while we were here,’ Mngqithi told his club’s official website.
‘We knew we were playing a good team but we wanted to put our foot forward and make them defend as we felt we were better physically and the atmosphere suited us. We are used to playing in the afternoon and we knew that they are not and you saw that very early in the game they created an error and we utilised it.’
The Algerian side were reduced to 10 men early in the first half after Keddad received a red card for handling the ball in the penalty area.
‘We were assisted by the fact the player got sent off, I want my players to learn from that incident,’ he added.
‘Had the defender just let the ball go in they would have had a good number and a fighting chance, because we had a numerical advantage we did not apply ourselves fully in the first half.’
The Brazilians only conceded one goal in the game when Amir Sayoud drew the game level just before half time and, from the resulting goal, Denis Onyango picked up an injury which forced him off at the break.
‘We don’t think it is a serious injury, they stepped on him, we are hopeful that he will be available soon.
‘When I saw him walking on the pitch after the game I felt a little bit better and I hope he will get better soon. I must say Kennedy Mweene came in with his experience and plugged in the hole and we never looked like we were shaky’, concluded Mngqithi.
