Teboho Mokoena injury leaves Miguel Cardoso calling for greater player protection

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso says Teboho Mokoena missed the club’s 3-2 victory over TS Galaxy because of an injury he believes was caused by an off-the-ball challenge.

The midfielder was unavailable as Sundowns recovered from a goal down to claim their first three points of the 2026/27 Betway Premiership campaign at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Cardoso was critical of the incident during his post-match media conference, arguing that the player responsible was not punished despite the seriousness of the contact. He also acknowledged that the absence of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in South African football makes it more difficult for match officials to identify incidents away from the ball.

“Teboho Mokoena was today out for the match [vs TS Galaxy],” he said.

“I think that it’s important that South Africa understands that we have to protect our players.

“We cannot come from the World Cup and [a player] make [injury] contact off the ball with a national hero when he plays his first match on South African soil, we allow such aggressive action on him without even being penalised. It’s a rough one, very rough one. The player [Polokwane City player], he was not even yellow carded.

“But this is the injury that has prevented Teboho Mokoena. It was not even yellow card this action [injury on Tebza].”

Cardoso’s comments focused on the protection of Mokoena, a Bafana Bafana midfielder, after the coach suggested the challenge had directly affected the player’s availability for Sundowns’ opening league fixture.

He described the incident as particularly unacceptable because it involved a national-team player returning from the World Cup and appearing in his first match on South African soil. According to Cardoso, the Polokwane City player involved escaped even a yellow card.

The Sundowns coach admitted that officials face an additional challenge when there is no VAR available to review incidents that take place away from the main action. However, he maintained that the contact should still have resulted in disciplinary action.

Despite Mokoena’s absence, Sundowns secured a winning start to their 2026/27 Betway Premiership campaign by overturning TS Galaxy’s early advantage. The result gave Masandawana their first three points of the season, although the victory was overshadowed for Cardoso by the injury to one of his influential midfielders.

The comments underline the coach’s concern about the standards of protection afforded to players in domestic football, particularly in incidents that may not be immediately seen by the referee.

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