Sundowns stability depends on consistent performances, says Cardoso

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Cardoso says the club’s ability to rotate their squad without losing effectiveness will be crucial to building stability during the 2026/27 campaign.

The Brazilians have made an inconsistent start to the season, recording three wins, one draw and one defeat across their opening matches in all competitions.

Their immediate focus is on Wednesday’s Betway Premiership meeting with AmaZulu at Loftus Versfeld, before they return to the MTN8 at the weekend.

Cardoso believes Sundowns must find a balance between making changes and maintaining a reliable level of performance. He identified several players who need to improve or contribute more as the team adjusts to the demands of the campaign.

“Nuno has to be much better and Brian has to go up a lot, Teboho has to come on the team and bring his quality, there are still a lot of things to appear again on the team. It’s important that we understand that rotation also has to happen in a few players but stability will come from having those players that can give consistently so we need to continue to produce results, we cannot wait too long for the players to perform so it’s important they understand that,” Cardoso said.

The coach added that Sundowns were working collectively to achieve greater consistency, while also hoping their squad would not continue to be affected by injuries.

“We are trying to do our best together so that we can find that stability. Let’s hope injuries don’t stay permanently around us.”

Sundowns have established themselves as one of the dominant forces in the domestic league and have also enjoyed substantial success in African competition. However, their performances in South Africa’s domestic cup tournaments have been less reliable in recent seasons.

The MTN8, Carling Knockout and Nedbank Cup have all presented challenges for the club, with Sundowns unable to match their league and continental achievements in those competitions.

Cardoso is determined to change that record. Ahead of Sunday’s opening leg against Golden Arrows, he challenged his players to show the same intensity and commitment they would produce in a CAF Champions League match.

“There’s something missing from us, it’s really not finals but big victories in domestic cups. I heard someone say we have not won but we won one championship in that season we were not able to win any cup and last year we also didn’t win any cup in South Africa,” the coach added.

He acknowledged that Sundowns had won a championship during the season in question, but had failed to add a domestic cup. Cardoso also explained that, during his first season at the club, two of the cup competitions had already been played before his arrival.

“So, obviously in the first season we just played one of them because when we arrived the other two had already been played by the club. It’s a minus obviously, I want to put cups on my CV in South Africa and we still can but to make this one we need to leave the spirit of the Champions League”