Why Mamelodi Sundowns kept faith with Miguel Cardoso despite pressure

Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Thlopie Motsepe says the club refused to dismiss Miguel Cardoso because it believed sacking the Portuguese coach during a difficult spell could have cost them the CAF Champions League title.

Cardoso’s first season at Chloorkop ended with Sundowns winning the Betway Premiership, although they were beaten by Pyramids FC in the CAF Champions League final. His second campaign brought a dramatic change in fortunes: Sundowns won the Champions League for the first time in 10 years but lost their domestic dominance to Orlando Pirates.

Speaking on Mamelodi Sundowns TV, Motsepe admitted Cardoso’s position had come under pressure during a poor run of results. However, he said the club considered the wider picture before deciding against making a change.

“Can we really release somebody in this short space, in this bumpy period, after he took us to the final of the Champions League which we hadn’t been in the past nine years?” Motsepe said.

He also highlighted Sundowns’ performances at the FIFA Club World Cup, where he believed Cardoso had given the players the freedom and confidence to play with courage.

“Do we let go of somebody who allowed our players to express themselves? And to play with such bravery at the FIFA Club World Cup, if we’re just going through this period right now?”

Motsepe acknowledged that football decisions are often shaped by emotion, but said club officials must sometimes step back from immediate results.

“Football is a passion-driven business, we live and die by the passion of the game,” he said.

“But it’s very important sometimes, to remove yourself and assess the bigger picture.”

He questioned whether Sundowns would have secured the continental title, or the Asia-Africa-Pacific Cup, had Cardoso been removed.

“If we had let go of coach Miguel as you say at that time, who knows if we would have gotten the Champions League? Or the Asia-Africa-Pacific Cup?”

The chairman said Sundowns understood that Cardoso needed to adapt, while also recognising an improvement in the team’s overall strength.

“Maybe we had not been playing as openly as we had done in previous seasons, but where we adapted in openness, we strengthened in our robustness,” he said.

“That was a beautiful lesson we had to learn.”

Why Sundowns appointed Cardoso

Motsepe said Sundowns’ repeated failures in the Champions League had prompted the club to consider a different approach. They had suffered a series of quarter-final and semi-final eliminations despite often being among the competition’s strongest teams.

“Champions League after Champions League, after Champions League we were getting knocked out of quarter-finals, semi-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals,” he said.

“And it wasn’t because we weren’t the better team.”

He recalled seeing the disappointment of supporters after those defeats and said Cardoso’s appointment was intended to provide a fresh perspective, rather than a complete break from the club’s identity.

Motsepe credited sporting director Flemming Berg with identifying similarities between Cardoso’s system and Sundowns’ established style.

“His formation and the style he embodies is similar to Sundowns and actually there’s things we can work on here that make us reach a new level,” he said.

“So you don’t bring someone in and then at the first sign of shakiness, you let him go,” Motsepe added.

“Unless the results and performances are so bad… and team dynamics, losing a dressing room.”