Sundowns boss Cardoso cautions perfect storm of schedule, pitches can cost Bafana

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso is concerned the congested Premier Soccer League (PSL) schedule may affect Bafana Bafana and teams playing in the Champions League and Confederation Cup.

Sundowns and Orlando Pirates have made it to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, while Stellenbosch have punched above their weight to progress to the same stage of the Confederation Cup. 

Bafana qualified for Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco at the end of the year and they have 2026 World Cup qualifiers to play in the coming months. Cardoso said the punishing schedule seems sure to be detrimental to the players when it comes to injuries and fatigue.

It is expected most of the Bafana players for the World Cup qualifiers and Afcon will be from Sundowns and Pirates, who are faced with a high number of matches across a number of competitions, including chasing the Betway Premiership title in first and second places respectively.

Looking at Sundowns, they have no less than 11 matches to play in all competitions until the end of March. Cardoso said there is a high risk of injuries for his players. 

“It is important that you ask me this question and we must make a deep analysis on the situation for the best interests of South African football,” Cardoso said on Sunday after he recorded his fifth successive Premiership win — 4-0 against Golden Arrows at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

“I don’t think the national team of South Africa will benefit from this schedule. I also don’t think teams competing in Caf competitions will benefit from the schedule we have ahead of us.”

The 2024-25 league kickoff was delayed by a few weeks due to the finalisation of the Premiership's new sponsorship from Betway, after DStv pulled out with a year left on their deal, and that has affected the rate of matches being played. Cardoso cautioned about a 'perfect storm' of a congested programme and some poor surfaces in South Africa that could result in injuries. 

“So it is an appeal to the PSL for the league to start early next season to give the time needed for teams to get minimum rest.” 

“What happened this season cannot happen again because we will suffer and the question is: how we are going to suffer? We are going to suffer with a lot of injuries and as coaches we need to manage training sessions or we simply don’t train, but just recover the players.” 

Sundowns have attempted to alleviate some of the pressure making signings in the January transfer window, bringing in Lucas Matías Suárez, Keanu Cupido and Jayden Adams. Thembinkosi Lorch has been reunited with coach Rulani Mokwena at Wydad Casablanca on loan. Lebohang Maboe has joined SuperSport United on a short-term deal until the end of the season, while Lesiba Nku has joined Stellenbosch on a permanent deal. 

“Because of this situation, we need to have bigger groups of players. It is not only a South African problem, teams that play frequently will have more injuries,” Cardoso said.

“We saw Pep Guardiola this season saying he needs to have a bigger squad next year because he cannot cope with the calendar. It is a lot and dramatic to work with this type of schedule but it is exciting at the same time.

“Before I came here, I spoke to two good friends with coaching experience in Brazilian football. They told me the calendar is crazy there because they play after three days with lots of travelling, but when I go back I will tell them in South Africa it is even worse. 

“Having close to 14 matches until the end of March is dramatic. Obviously you cannot look much in front because you never know what is going to happen in the next game. 

“It is tough; I wanted to give the players Monday off after the Arrows match, but we need to recover them and work on the other ones who did not play because you need to get them all on the same level. 

“What we do is to elevate the standard of all the players, make them believe we trust them. It is inevitable that there will be injuries, for example the pitch in Polokwane [in Downs' 2-1 league win at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on January 22] was dramatic for injuries, it was not good. 

“It is also a word for the PSL: please start obliging teams to water the pitches so that they are quicker and players don’t get stuck.”