The Burundian tactician defends the Angolan winger after being sent off and says they will miss his services during the ban
Yanga SC coach Cedric Kaze has stated winger Carlos Carlinhos did not deserve to be sent off against Kengold FC in their FA Cup fixture on Saturday.
The Angolan star was shown a straight red card for punching a Kengold defender but Yanga held on to win the match 1-0 and qualify for the fifth round.
The Burundian tactician has faulted the player saying his conduct was not good but insisted he did not deserve the red card from the incident.
“I don’t think he was hurt from the punching but it was a poor reaction from him [Carlinhos]. I think the incident did not deserve a red card,” Kaze said as quoted by Daily News after the game at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
“He [Carlinhos] is a good player and was regaining his fitness levels as such to miss him in the upcoming matches, to me he is not healthy because he has a big impact in the team.”
Kaze also confirmed he had talked to Carlinhos after the incident and he regretted his conduct.
After the game, Carlinhos, who came on as a second-half substitute for Deus Kaseke before being sent off, took to his social media pages to apologise to fans for the incident and promised to come back a better player after serving his suspension.
“I apologise to all Yanga fans, especially colleagues, coaches, and team leaders for the red card I got today [Saturday]. now I will raise my head so that after the suspension I will come back stronger and help the team achieve the main goal of the season,” Carlinhos wrote on his Instagram page.
Carlinhos has struggled to nail down a starting place in the Yanga team since he signed for them at the start of the 2020-21 campaign, with injuries putting him out of action.
In the first round of the Mainland Premier League, Carlinhos missed a number of matches including the derby against Simba SC which ended 1-1 at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
His efforts to return to the team suffered another blow during the Mapinduzi Cup held in Zanzibar, as he aggravated the injury while in training, forcing the club to release him from camp.
Yanga went on to lift the trophy after beating Simba 4-3 on penalties after the final had ended 0-0 in regular time.
Against Kengold, Burundian import Fiston Razack scored the solitary goal to send his side to the next round courtesy of a 40th-minute spot-kick against a team that defended well to avoid conceding more goals.