"We only have ourselves to blame." Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso reflects on Nedbank Cup exit

Teenage debutant Sphamandla Ngwenya opened the scoring for his new team after 19 minutes before Zimbabwe striker Junior Zindoga added a second before the break from the penalty spot.

Ngwenya was one of three players only registered by Galaxy this week following the end of their FIFA transfer ban, alongside Tshepo Kakora and Melusi Mathebula.

Sundowns, meanwhile, made 10 changes from their recent 2=1 Betway Premiership win over rivals Orlando Pirates in a crucial top of the table encounter.

And reflecting on the game, Cardoso admitted that his team made too many mistakes against a full-spirited Rockets team and reminded him of last season's 2-1 semi-final defeat to Kaizer Chiefs.

He told SuperSport: "The most important thing is that in a game like this there is no recover from it.

"You cannot put yourself into 2-0 like we did. I remember last year in the semi-final of this cup, we were winning 1-0 against Chiefs and we allowed them to score.

"And today is unbelievable, we give the ball [away] for the goal and then we also suffer a penalty which is completely avoidable.

"The story of the game is exactly that, we go down 2-0 and had to recover from that. We created four very good chances, but we don t score. If we had scored one goal, the energy will be completely different.

"We only have ourselves to blame."

Defending the changes he made to his line-up, the Brazilians' boss added: "The goals that we suffered have nothing to do with the line-up, it's based on individual mistakes.