Motsepe, Berg, Cardoso passionately defend new Sundowns coach’s trophy record

Mamelodi Sundowns’ new coach Miguel Cardoso, chair Tlhopie Motsepe and technical director Flemming Berg passionately defended his one-trophy record and said there was far more to his CV that qualifies him for the Brazilians’ hot seat.

They clarified that Cardoso’s work permit is in order for him to be on the bench when Downs meet Raja Casablanca in their third Caf Champions League Group B game at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday (3pm).

The 52-year-old Portuguese’s place there comes as a surprise. However, the two Champions League draws — at home to minnows AS Maniema and away on Saturday to AS FAR in Morocco — that have put Downs under pressure in the group, plus their shock Carling Knockout final defeat to Magesi FC, appear to have been the major factors in replacing Manqoba Mngqithi as coach on Tuesday.

Motsepe said Sundowns’ belief is Cardoso has shown the credentials — though his lone trophy came steering Esperance de Tunis to last season’s Tunisian Ligue 1 title, in a career that includes head coaching jobs at Rio Ave in Portugal and Celta Vigo in Spain — to indicate he will win plenty more silverware at the Pretoria club.

The coach also reached last season’s Caf Champions League final, Esperance losing 1-0 on aggregate to Al Ahly, after progressing 2-0 past Sundowns in the semifinals.

After Motsepe concluded, Cardoso jumped in to also passionately vouch for his record.

 “We live in a society and a sport where people judge CVs by trophies,” the coach said. “But sometimes they forget that to win, not only do you need to be in the context where you can truly fight to win, but also sometimes you are in a context where winning is not only getting trophies.

“For example, I have four finals of big club competitions — we won none of them.

“I’m speaking about the [2015 Uefa Under-19] Youth League with Shakhtar Donetsk [who lost 3-2 against Chelsea], the Europa League with Braga [Cardoso was assistant to Domingos Paciência as they lost 1-0 to FC Porto in 2011] and the Champions League final.

“Being in those finals is such a big trophy that when you look at my CV don’t judge because we lost that game, judge it because we won to be there.

“I waited one and a half years to get a job at a club [being appointed to Esperance in January 2024 after a second stint with Rio Ave ended in May 2021] where I could win a trophy because I knew how society worked.

“And when I entered I succeeded — I am the champion of Tunisia at the moment.

“And the club [Esperance] was not in a good position when I took over. And we made it [to the Champions League final and league title] because we believed and prepared ourselves.

“And here [at Sundowns], it’s another level — you need to win to make your mark and that’s what we are going to do.”

Moments earlier Motsepe said the sum of the parts of Cardoso’s record is more than his one trophy.

“Coach Miguel’s CV is one that is better spoken than read. If you speak to the coach about his experiences at Rio Ave, Nantes in France or Shakhtar Donetsk [in Ukraine] you understand how much he learnt and the changes and improvements he made there.

“With due respect to all the teams he coached, he didn’t believe he had all the tools he might have had.

“I don’t believe Sundowns is a complete club ... but we also see ourselves as an opportunity and a club he can achieve greater success with. The one title — nobody wants to speak about other coaches but when Juergen Klopp arrived at Liverpool he didn’t have the most decorated CV and he left the club as a legend.

“All legends start somewhere and we hope this is the place where he starts to write his own legend.”

Berg was asked what swayed Sundowns to opt for Cardoso, especially given the Champions League is always their biggest target.

“When we discuss football with coach Miguel there’s a clear sign that what he stands for as a coach is also what we stand for as a club.

“Appointing coaches at Sundowns will always be based on the playing style, philosophy and the way Sundowns wants to play football. This is a big decision and we don’t jump in with closed eyes — we have done the research.

“Go back to Celta Vigo [under Cardoso in 2018-19], which was for me one of the most exciting teams in Europe, a top team with Iago Aspas and other good players, and see how they were playing football and you will see the similarities [with Sundowns].

“When you take a team like Rio Ave, who have maybe the 12th-biggest budget in Portuguese football and making them a solid No 5 [in the league], but playing football with similarities to Sundowns. And yes, I saw all of Esperance’s [Champions League] games last year, because I do my research because we were playing them. And again, I can see what Miguel was trying to do there.

“So there are so many things that convinced us this was the right decision.”

Mngqithi was joined by assistant coach Romain Folz and goalkeeper coach Wendell Robinson on Downs’ technical staff exit list. Senior coach Steve Komphela and another goalkeeper coach, Kennedy Mweene, kept their jobs.