Miguel Cardoso is not at Mamelodi Sundowns to rewrite the history books. Instead, he wants the team to write new chapters that’ll take the club to greater heights.
Cardoso was appointed as Sundowns’ new head coach this week, replacing Manqoba Mngqithi, who had an underwhelming start to the season.
And while Mngqithi was an unpopular incumbent over the last five months, he was the last generation of the bloodline which transformed the club in the last 12 years.
He and his predecessor Rulani Mokwena, who was also sacked five months ago, were the right-hand men of Pitso Mosimane – the mastermind behind Sundowns’ recent success.
And so, with the technical team that put together the first stone that laid Sundowns fortunes having been dismantled, there are concerns about the new dawn under Cardoso.
Added to that is the fact that the Portuguese mentor’s CV is quite underwhelming, as he’s been sacked more often than he’s won trophies.
His notable achievement was winning the league title with Esperance of Tunisia last season.
The 52-year-old is not worried about fazed by being earmarked as the first foreign coach who’s expected to bring success at the club after an illustrious reign of locals.
“In Tunisia, I knew that no foreign coach reached the final of the Champions League, and I did,” said Cardoso ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League group stage clash against Raja Casablanca at Loftus Versfeld (3pm kick-off).
“No one had ever won a match 8-0, and I did. No one had a more possession-based match like I did in the Champions League in a home game against ASEC Mimosas.
“Look, I don’t think about what happened in the past. I look forward to the future. I am not comfortable about having to express and talk about taking the team to the next level.
“We should look forward, and not be attached to what's left behind. We don’t work for records, but we work to make dreams come true together.
“I don’t like to be first; I like objective people who work hard to make these dreams objectives. So, let’s live day-by-day working on our best, so that new things happen.”
Cardoso is right for referring to his Champions League experience with Esperance. After all, it is in the same competition where he’s expected to reach the top.
Cardoso’s Esperance eliminated Sundowns in the premier inter-club continental competition semi-final last season, winning 2-0 on aggregate.
And so, as the Brazilians stuttered in this season’s group stage, drawing the first two games – at home to AS Maniema and away to AS FAR – it perhaps seemed fitting for the club to send him an SOS.
Cardoso duly heeded the call. As such, his first game will be in their third group stage match at home to Raja tomorrow.
And given what he’s seen from the training sessions in Chloorkop over the last few days, Cardoso said that he’s happy with their preparations, especially against a tough opponent.
“You should expect, mostly, permanent ambition,” Cardoso said. “When you think about ambition, we want to win every match, everywhere.
“We know the level of games that we are playing. We are playing in the Champions League. We know the level of teams in the Champions League. So, we have respect for every opponent.
“We need to get ourselves to the limit, because that’s where we should play every time. That’s our motivation and aspect… I am quite confident and happy with what we’ve done so far.”
On Raja, he added: “We’ll express ourselves in the right way in the match. We expect a tough match, because obviously, this is the level of matches that we have.
“But as the coach, coaching staff and players, those are the kind of matches we want to play. The kind of moments to play, and not only to enjoy, but also profit from the attitude.”
𝘾𝙊𝘼𝘾𝙃 𝙈𝙄𝙂𝙐𝙀𝙇'𝙎 𝙁𝙄𝙍𝙎𝙏 𝙎𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙄𝙊𝙉 1️⃣
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) December 12, 2024
The Brazilians made their return to Chloorkop to prepare for Sunday's important #TotalEnergiesCAFCL match against Raja! 🔜🔥🌍#Sundowns pic.twitter.com/FdMOk5zXFC
Cardoso has respect for all that his predecessors and the players have achieved in the past, and he wants to add more to their problem-solving skills, instead of chopping and changing things.
“We also need to give the players the tools so that they can express their ambitions through behaviours – and that’s what we’ve been working on during the week,” he added.
“We need to give them the tools to make decisions. I always tell the players, ‘I don't play football. I just provide tools to help them with what’s happening in the game'.”