Cardoso explains Zwane and Onyango roles at Mamelodi Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso says Themba Zwane and Denis Onyango have given him complete freedom to make selection decisions about their roles this season, regardless of their status as two of the club’s most experienced players.

Cardoso revealed that he held a meeting with the veteran midfielder and goalkeeper two weeks before Sundowns’ first MTN 8 match. The pair told him they did not want their past contributions to influence his choices, a stance the coach said he valued.

The Portuguese coach also made clear that Zwane remains an important part of his plans, both for what he contributes on the pitch and for the example he sets away from it.

“Themba is a very important player for us. He is an important player still by what he can do in any pitch. You remember the first match he played in the MTN 8 Cup. He entered, he picked the ball in the back, he made two or three combinations, he progressed the ball together with other players. The combining and he did the assist for the goal,” Cardoso told reporters.

Cardoso said Zwane’s age would not determine how he was viewed or used, pointing instead to his influence, professionalism and leadership.

“So, never Miguel as a coach having Themba in the squad, we look at him just as a number. Not, well, as a number like the others, but as a player that you cannot think about. Age is not that, age is not simply like that. But he is much more important than that. Exactly by the example of his silent leadership. By example, by the way he commits. By the way of everything he does in a regular basis because he trains wonderfully every day,” Cardoso observed.

The coach said Zwane and Onyango approached him before the opening MTN 8 fixture to reassure him that they accepted his authority to select the team.

“Of course, I had a talk with him, but he is so big as a human being that it was not me calling him it was him coming to me and it was not only him. Him and Denis (Onyango). So, both of them came to me two weeks ago and they said, before the first match of the MTN 8and they said, coach we just want you to feel in peace regarding ourselves.

“We just want you to feel absolutely 100% free to make your choices without worrying about our past. And I just told them, look guys I’m absolutely just more certain about the level of human beings you are. Because it’s important to have that understanding from their side, obviously. On the question of the goalkeeper, obviously it becomes even more difficult, because we have to make a movement on Ricardo (Goss) that makes things a little bit more difficult for Denis and on that talk, immediately I told them, look, Themba, just for you to understand, tomorrow you are on the team. Denis, for you to understand, tomorrow you are not on the team.”

Cardoso added that Zwane would be left out when necessary and brought back when he believed the team required him. He said every player in the squad remained available for selection and could make a contribution.

“Because that is the way, honest that I speak with my players and I told them, Themba, I will let you stay out. When I feel it’s time I will put you in when I feel the team needs you and I will eventually use you sometimes even not just bring you together or let you stay because I need to embrace my players and they are all players. There are no players that are not players.

“They are all players. So they can all be useful. Obviously, there are people that and in the front, you saw, I spoke about that on the last press conference, I think this year we have more capacity, in terms of changing players.”