Miguel Cardoso explains Tashreeq Matthews' absence in Mamelodi Sundowns' Carling Knockout victory

The 26-year-old winger has been a regular feature for the Brazilians since signing from Allsvenskan side IK Sirius in 2024.

This term the former Borussia Dortmund attacker has played 18 games in all competitions, scoring four goals and creating four.

After featuring in every match, he was left out of the side that beat Golden Arrows in the Carling Knockout Cup on Tuesday but is expected to return for the CAF Super Cup against USM Alger on Sunday.

Matthews surpassed a club record with his incredible run of games that was last held by Ramahlwe Mphahlele with 50 consecutive starts for Sundowns.

Speaking after the cup win, Cardoso said on SuperSport: "I could not bring Tashreeq; he obviously needed a little bit of air.

"He has played so much and consecutively, so we felt that it was time to really let him release a little bit of his sports or competitive tension, and breathe a little bit."

Iqraam Rayners scored the only goal of the game with a header from an Antonio Van Wyk cross.

"We are happy with Antonio; we are pretty happy," Cardoso added. 

"I think that, obviously, he's a player [Tashreeq Matthews] who has also been challenging himself. We have been challenging him to become stronger defensively, more reactive, more capable of counter-pressing, and more capable of understanding the defensive moments of the game.

"He has been strong. He has been becoming much more versatile and much more useful, and we are pretty happy with the process we are doing together."