Miguel Cardoso nears glory with Mamelodi Sundowns but yet to prove he is the man of the hour

Late during last Friday night’s CAF Champions League semi-final second leg match between Al Ahly and Mamelodi Sundowns, the TV cameras focused on a very tense Thlopie Motsepe sitting alongside a visibly worried Flemming Berg in the stands.

The Red Devils were leading 1–0 at the time and looked set to remain in line for an unprecedented third successive triumph in the continent’s premier club knockout competition.

Sundowns, on the other hand, were facing yet another exit at the penultimate stage. No wonder the two were as red-faced — literally — as they were.

After all, the head honchos of South Africa’s most dominant club of the past decade had earlier this season taken a bold decision they believed would deliver the second star for the club.

Motsepe, the club chairman, backed the call by Berg — the sporting director — to sack Manqoba Mngqithi and replace him with Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso, whom they believed would bring continental football’s ‘holy grail’ to Chloorkop. But it was all going pear-shaped as Taher Mohamed’s 24th-minute goal seemed to have done the trick for Ahly.

Motsepe looked as though he was contemplating how to sack not only Berg for misleading him but Cardoso for not doing any better than his predecessors.

Football — a game of fine margins — is fickle at the top, though, and as the popular saying goes: the match is not over until the fat lady has sung. Sundowns got the equaliser courtesy of an own goal by Yasser Ibrahim in the 90th minute, stunning the 75 000-strong partisan crowd into silence as they progressed to the final via the away goals rule.

Cue Motsepe and Berg patting themselves on the back for their ‘masterstroke’ decision, and Cardoso entering his name into Sundowns folklore—the fact that he took over mid-campaign notwithstanding.

Sundowns are into the final for the third time in their history — the late Ted Dumitru having lost to Al Ahly in 2001 and Pitso Mosimane winning it against the same side in 2016. Cardoso now has the opportunity to oversee a second triumph, with expectations being that the Brazilians will get the better of newcomers Pyramids.

Add to that the fact he is on course to help Sundowns win the inaugural Betway Premiership title, and it appears Motsepe and Berg have been vindicated for a decision that had most of us up in arms, feeling they were unfair to local man Mngqithi.

Domestic championship triumph is always a given for the team that is chasing an eighth successive title. But in reaching the final, the man who last year ended Sundowns’ run at the semi-final stage with Esperance de Tunis — before coming a cropper against Ahly — has justified his shock appointment.

Is he the real deal though?

There are a few changes Cardoso has brought to Sundowns that suggest he is.

Change in mentality

Prior to Cardoso’s arrival, Chloorkop had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with winning the Champions League.

His predecessor Rulani Mokwena was so hell-bent on emulating his mentor Pitso Mosimane that he somewhat pushed the pressure onto the players. That led to Sundowns often losing matches — not because they weren’t good enough, but due to the pressure of having to deliver the holy grail.

Cardoso came in and made the Champions League more of a target than an obsession, and because of that, the players have not been made to feel as though continental success is the be-all and end-all of their existence.

Cardoso’s continental experience shines through

One of the main reasons Sundowns had failed to win the Champions League a second time was the naivety of young former coach Mokwena. A huge fan of Pep Guardiola, Mokwena got Sundowns playing pleasing football and receiving plaudits from all quarters — but they still could not get to the final.

Enter Cardoso — well after Mngqithi, who had already started the process — and the South African champions went the pragmatic route. The 52-year-old did not emphasise aesthetics but rather focused on grinding out results. Sundowns started to win matches even when playing ugly, if the situation called for it.

He had clearly learnt from his time at Esperance that it is about scoring more goals than the opposition. After all, there’s no room for comments in the results column. Unlike in the past, Sundowns no longer have to dominate possession to be effective — thanks to Cardoso’s pragmatism.

Effective squad rotation

One of Sundowns’ biggest strengths is their depth. But even with that, the Brazilians had previously relied on a core team that produced stellar results early in the competition, only to falter when it reached the business end. Fatigue saw key players fail to perform, and that great start ended with the rest of the continent mocking them as a “group stage team.”

Was that a tactical masterstroke against Al Ahly?

Held goalless in the first leg at Loftus, expectations were that Sundowns would need to be at their attacking best to beat Al Ahly in Cairo. But, incredulously, Cardoso began the match without an outright striker.

The former European journeyman — he coached four clubs between 2017 and 2021, one of them twice, without achieving anything significant and was sacked from all of them — opted for Tashreeq Matthews as a false nine, ahead of regular marksmen Peter Shalulile and Iqraam Rayners.

It didn’t work — well, at least it didn’t look like it did — until Rayners forced the own goal after coming on. Speaking after the match, Cardoso reasoned that he’d gone that route to tire the Ahly defence before unleashing his finishers.

Whether you believe him or not, the ploy worked, and Sundowns reached the final. And the man in charge when they finally overcame the semi-final hurdle? Cardoso.

The next question: Can he deliver the trophy?

He failed in last year’s final against Ahly, but in Pyramids FC, Cardoso and Sundowns face a much less experienced opponent. For one, the Brazilian has already got the better of the Egyptian upstarts, and the South Africans should start as favourites when the sides clash on 24 May and 1 June.

Sure, he’s done well to guide them to the final — but Cardoso must deliver the trophy. Second place simply won’t cut the mustard — not for Sundowns, nor for himself, given he played the bridesmaid role last year.

That, after all, is the main reason Motsepe and Berg dismissed Mngqithi — to make way for a man who could go all the way.

Betway Premiership title a must

On the domestic front, Sundowns are once again looking good for the league title. It’s not going to be a walk in the park like previous seasons, with Pirates hot on their heels. But as Mngqithi said at the start of the campaign: at Sundowns, the championship is not an achievement — it is a given.

Cardoso took over with the club top of the table and has kept them there, although they’ve faltered along the way. Can he hold on as Pirates close in?

The Buccaneers are set to trail by just three points should they win their two matches in hand.

These final matches will be a true test of Cardoso’s mettle, and his recent complaints about fixture congestion and the lack of consideration by local soccer authorities may not have won him many friends.

Next season the real test

There’s no denying that Motsepe and Berg will be pleased with the coaching decision they made. But the reality is that Cardoso took over deep into the campaign.

His true test comes next season, when he will lead Sundowns from the outset — competing in the tricky MTN8 as well as the Carling Knockout, which Mngqithi lost in the final against rookies Magesi FC. Then there’s the Nedbank Cup, whose final Cardoso missed out on after defeat to Kaizer Chiefs.

He will have the Fifa Club World Cup, starting in June, to help those preperations and refine his tactics ahead of the new campaign. 

Until then, though, you can bet that — rather than looking as morose as they did late in that match against Al Ahly — Motsepe and Berg are now congratulating each other on a ‘brilliant appointment’.