Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has expressed his gratitude to the club for securing a chartered plane for their trip to Angola ahead of Sunday’s CAF Champions League clash against Wiliete.

The Brazilians will face the Angolan side in the first leg of the second preliminary round, the winner of the two-legged tie will advance to the group stages of Africa’s prestigious club competition.

Sundowns received a bye in the first preliminary round, while Wiliete booked their place in the next round after thrashing Seychelles outfit Foresters FC 5-0 on aggregate.

The reigning African champions will be favourites to progress against a Wiliete side that finished second behind Petro de Luanda in the Girabola last season.

Cardoso thankful to Sundowns

Although the flight from South Africa to Angola takes just under four hours, Cardoso believes securing a chartered plane is crucial to ensuring the team travels without unnecessary complications.

“I’m very thankful to my club that understood that we needed to have a chartered plane to travel to Angola. It’s clear to explain because of the flights in Angola. ” he said.

“We made our people travel there to see several matches and some of their flights were delayed. We couldn’t risk not travelling on getting a chartered plane because it’s tricky to fly in Angola.

“And we needed to control that. The club made that effort to get us a chartered plane, and it allows us to come back immediately after the match to South Africa.”

Cardoso was speaking after Sundowns continued their impressive run of form with a commanding 4-1 victory over Richards Bay in the Betway Premiership at Princess Magogo Stadium on Tuesday.

Having faced Petro de Luanda in previous campaigns, Sundowns will now turn their attention to unfamiliar opposition in Wiliete. The Benguela-based outfit will pose a different challenge, with Angola international Mabululu among their attacking threats.

‘It’s very difficult’

Cardoso revealed that preparations for the encounter were already underway before thei triumph over Pirates in the MTN8 final last Saturday.

“Obviously, for us coaches, it’s very difficult to prepare a match on that level but we will again demand from ourselves a lot of effort,” the Portuguese coach added.

“I can confess that after meeting earlier today, I was already in my room studying documents that were in my hands. We also had people that worked on them at the same we were preparing for Pirates.”

Sundowns will be determined to secure a positive result in Angola before hosting Wiliete for the return leg in South Africa on October 23.