Miguel Cardoso sets sights on MTN8, league title and further continental glory with Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso says the club are targeting a series of major trophies as they prepare for a demanding campaign across domestic, continental and international competitions.

The Brazilians have already lifted silverware this season, beating Al Ahli Saudi to win the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup two weeks ago.

Their next chance to add to that success comes on Saturday, when Sundowns meet Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

After that match, the Tshwane club face a crowded schedule that includes the CAF Champions League, domestic football, the CAF Super Cup and the FIFA Challenger Cup.

Cardoso has made the CAF Super Cup one of Sundowns’ leading objectives. The Portuguese coach is aiming to help the club claim another major continental honour in a short period.

Winning back the Betway Premiership is also a priority after Sundowns lost the league title to Orlando Pirates last season. Cardoso wants his team to compete for honours in every tournament, including the FIFA Challenger Cup.

“We are the living proof that we can compete in high platforms, we know that these kind of matches can fall for any side,” Cardoso said in conversation with Teko Modise on Sundowns TV.

“We need to be very ambitious this season, but ambition can be negative if you don’t align behaviours with it.

“Steve Komphela said, ‘We win, we celebrate, we’re not happy but it’s not enough’. If we feel we have something special, we gonna create an opportunity to lose and we cannot.”

Cardoso said Sundowns must remain focused on their immediate challenge before turning their attention to the league.

“We need to focus on the next one [MTN8], that’s a challenge ahead. After that, we have championship matches and it’s a competition we need to regain, obviously it’s a strong objective for the season,” he said.

“Then we have a Super Cup, it’s a very strong objective. Having a possibility to put a third continental [trophy] in five months, it takes us to a point where nobody has done that in a country.”

The coach also warned that success would require the squad to maintain the right standards while managing a demanding calendar.

“Big trophies come with big possibilities; we need to understand how we need to behave,” said Cardoso.

“We have strong opponents to qualify for the CAF Champions League, and we must take ourselves to the limit. Also, I’m not sure how we gonna be able to cope with all competitions we have locally. But we have to trust the boys that they will step up.”

Sundowns will then compete for the FIFA Challenger Cup, where they could face Fluminense, Flamengo, Palmeiras, one of the best Argentinian teams or Toluca.

“Then we will go for the Challenger Cup, it can be Fluminense, Flamengo, Palmeiras, one of the best Argentinian team, it can be Toluca, but we will study the teams and take weight off the players,” Cardoso added.