The defeat leaves Sundowns on five points from their Group C games and for now, with their fate out of their hands.
They will hope former boss Rhulani Mokwena’s MC Alger can defeat St Eloi Lupopo on Sunday to keep Sundowns in second place in the pool.
They must still go to the DR Congo to meet the latter and host MC Alger, so all is certainly not lost, but the side have won just one of their last 10 away games in the Champions League and this was another off-night for the big-spending South African club.
“We knew how important it would be to control the game as much as possible. With the ball, we expected space because this is a team that presses heavily on one side of the pitch,” Cardoso told reporters. “Our intention was to move the ball quickly to the opposite side, where we could attack, stretch them and install ourselves higher up the field. I think we started the game quite well.
“Compared to the first match (a 2-2 draw in Pretoria), we knew we would be facing a higher defensive line and stronger pressure, so we selected players who could attack the space in behind. That is why we made changes in the front areas. In the first 20 minutes especially, we created the opportunities we had anticipated.
“There was a period where we started to play too quickly into the space behind the defence, without proper structure. That exposed us and made it harder to control the game. We gave energy to our opponents and allowed them to play the game they wanted, defending deep and then using space in transition. That created instability for us.”
Cardoso says that while the defeat is disappointing, credit should also be given to Al HiIal, a team who can play at home due to civil war in the country, yet who constantly punch above their weight.
“These matches are very tricky. They have high-quality, very physical players up front, strong in contact, and our defence struggled at times against that,” Cardoso says. “When you don’t take your chances at the right moment, you suffer. Once we had to take risks and push numbers forward, the game became open, especially in the last 15 minutes.
“The story of the game is simple: the opportunities we didn’t score. We had three chances in the first half and three or four in the second. When you don’t convert those moments, you put yourself in a difficult position.
“We created more than enough to at least draw the match, but we didn’t take them, and that was the difference.”
