Mamelodi Sundowns new coach Miguel Cardoso is confident that he will be the first European coach to succeed in Chloorkop, after he achieved the same feat when he became the only foreign coach to take Esperance to the final of the CAF Champions League last year.
The former Deportivo La Coruna, Shaktar Donetsk, Celta Viga and Nantes coach arrived in SA midweek and hit the ground running. He says this has been a crazy week, leaving the Sundowns headquarters at 9pm every day, attending meetings and preparing for his first match against Raja Casablanca, in the Champions League.
“People are saying no European coach has succeeded at Sundowns. They said the same when I arrived in Esperance in Tunisia and I became the first foreign coach to reach the final of the CAF Champions League. I do not worry or focus on the past; I only think about the present and the future.
I love getting out of the comfort zone and taking the team to the next level,” said the Portuguese in a candid interview.
“We do not work for records, we go along to make dreams come true. I do not like
dreamers, I like objective people – who go forward to achieve those dreams and goals. This club has high records, and we want to make our own history, considering the
standards that this club has.
“It has been a crazy week; I did not even get time to talk to my brother back home. He called to check on me. I have been
leaving the Chloorkop offices at nine at night, during heavy rains, attending many meetings, every day. But I am excited, this is what I have been looking forward to,” he added.
Cardoso expressed the kind of reception he received from the players and his teammates and spoke about the quality of the players he found at the PSL defending champions.
“We are working on how to express ourselves in matches and the energy is positive and were well received and welcomed, and it was easy for us to integrate. We feel like part of the family, and we also felt the spirit. We are working on what we need to do in different
moments of the game.
“People can expect permanent ambition; we want to win every match everywhere; that’s our plan. Our biggest focus at this moment is the CAF Champions League, and we should have no limits. We are going to play all the matches at a high level. As coaching staff, we work for those moments, and we want to profit from that attitude. We are here to give them [players] the tools to express that ambition.
“That’s what we have been working on. We want comfort that the players will make good decisions on the pitch. I am not a player. I am here to provide the tools, and they must use them according to what is happening in the game. We are polishing the technical side of the game,” Cardoso explained further.
Sundowns captain Ronwen Wiliams said it was not easy losing their coaches, Rulani Mokwena and Manqoba Mngqithi, in a space of four months. “It has been an interesting week for the players. We lost a number of technical team members and coaches we have worked with for a long time.
“We have new coaches, and we need to be professional. It is not easy to adapt. As players we get attached and there’s brotherhood. In life, we lose family members and also in the sporting world.
“In the beginning it was difficult, but the players know what to do – to keep on making
Sundowns the best team every day. We cannot question some decisions. We just have to play football, said Williams.
