Sundowns coach Cardoso on South African football

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says local teams compete rather than lie down to get beaten.

MAMELODI SUNDOWNS COACH MIGUEL CARDOSO ON THE BETWAY PREMIERSHIP

“The teams here are very, very competitive, but it’s not the way they play because if you ask me if I like the way the teams play, I don’t like them; generally, I don’t like them,” Cardoso said via FARPost.

“But they compete very well. This is honesty, this is acceptable and I respect it a lot, the teams that compete very well. So, when you go to play whatever match it is, respect the opponents because they will compete hard. As a coach, you need to be aware of that [the opponents will fight] and not relax so that the players don’t relax, too.

“So, football here is interesting because of the fact that teams are very honest in the way they want to show themselves. And playing Sundowns also gives them extra energy because we see other matches; things are not exactly like that. So, sometimes it’s very difficult to analyse the opponents.

“It’s very interesting to see how the teams are ambitious in the way they approach the games, and that is good for the development of football and players in South Africa,” the Sundowns mentor concluded.

MAMELODI SUNDOWNS 1-0 KAIZER CHIEFS

A Lucas Ribeiro stunner was enough to seal Sundowns’ third win over Kaizer Chiefs this season. According to coach Miguel Cardoso, Amakhosi made it a tough afternoon for the champions.

“We expected that Chiefs would overload the midfield with numbers but we knew that would give opportunity’s on the sides, and we have capacity on the sides, that’s how we scored as you remember their full back… they had midfielders controlling the insdie,” Cardoso said via iDiski Times.

“And their wingers controlling the insides, trying to close our build-ups inside, so their full-back was jumping on our full-back, but we knew then we have two in front and if we could attract one centre-back, eventually we could play the ball into the space.

“So Peter made that movement, Iqraam went into space, received the ball and he passed to Lucas to make the goal. As I said it’s the players who interpret things, it was a very hard game, very tactical, very well prepared by coach Nabi.

“They have also good players and there’s an emotionality behind these kinds of matches, we don’t want to highlight it because our players are already tense for these games, so my approach is always low in demanding, just give them tools to find answers.

“Sometimes if goes well, sometimes not, this time it went well, I’m happy for that, but tough game, very tough game.”

CAN KABO YELLOW WIN THE CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE?

Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website’s newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.