Even with a Caf medal, Cardoso’s job surely now rests on World Cup showing

There were two sides to the heartbreaking Caf Champions League final defeat against Pyramids FC for Mamelodi Sundowns — and two stories are being told.

Both are valid.

One is that the Brazilians, finally presented with a chance to add a second star above their badge to the one placed when they lifted the trophy in 2016 after almost a decade of striving for another, competing so regularly in the knockout stages they became the Confederation of African Football’s second-ranked club, came desperately close.

Walid El Karti equalised in the dying seconds of added time in the 1-1 first leg at Loftus Versfeld. In the second leg, Tashreeq Matthews just before the break at 1-0 down and substitute Peter Shalulile at the end of the game at 2-1 forced breathtakingly good stops off the legs of goalkeeper Ahmed El Shenawy at Cairo's June 30 Air Defence Stadium.

The score remained 2-1 and Pyramids prevailed 3-2 on aggregate.

Downs coach Miguel Cardoso arrived with them in real danger of bombing out in the group stages — a major reason for predecessor Manqoba Mngqithi’s departure. That they got through by the skin of their teeth, then similarly did in the quarter and semifinals — winning 1-0 at home against Esperance Tunis then drawing 0-0 in Pretoria against 12-time champions Al Ahly and still progressing — pointed to a hardness and tenacity in Downs under the 53-year-old Portuguese.

He took Downs from battling in Group B to the final — where he also steered Esperance to the year before — and then within a goal of lifting the trophy. A 2-2 draw would have seen Downs prevail on away goals.

Sceptics of the coach — and there are a few still, especially after some of his eyebrow-raising decisions in the final — might feel Sundowns rode their luck, then it ran out against Pyramids.

Which is why the second narrative on Downs’ final being put forward in heated debates is that Pyramids were there for the taking. It postulates that had Cardoso’s choices been better in the rarefied atmosphere of a continental final, where tiny margins settle the result, the Brazilians would be champions of Africa for a second time now.

Veteran Themba Zwane — Sundowns and Bafana Bafana’s best creative player of the last 10 years, who made a return from injury in the weeks leading up to the final — did not come off the bench in both legs. Cardoso employed Jayden Adams at midfield playmaker and while the 24-year-old has been on form since transferring from Stellenbosch FC in January, he has nowhere near Zwane’s experience or big-match temperament.

Big striker Lebo Mothiba came off the bench late in the second leg despite that being his first appearance coming back after a long injury, in such a crucial situation and match. Left-back Aubrey Modiba battled over both legs and could have been given better cover or replaced from the start of the second leg by Divine Lunga.

Cardoso put on a brave face and played up the first, more positive aspect, though admitted his team were missing something.

Lifting his runners-up medal, he ruminated: “Anyway, it’s not many people or many coaches or members of staff, board members, clubs, that play finals of the Champions League and have a right to win a medal.

“I would just like to remind that on the way to the final we played Al Ahly, who are still the first on the Caf ranking [of clubs] and we beat them in the semifinal. And we played Esperance Tunis, who at the moment we beat them were second in that ranking.

“And when we arrived at Sundowns they were struggling to pass the group stage. We were able to proceed in a very tough group that also contained AS FAR.

“Throughout the tournament our players were able to show great commitment, attitude and quality. Guiding them to the final makes me very proud.

Disappointing, too, to have a guy like ‘Mshishi’ [Zwane], who has been there done that, who knows how to win games at Sundowns, not even getting minutes at all. But you know what, the coach always has his own idea and he didn’t see it the way we see it

—  Manqoba ‘Shakes’ Ngwenya

“The feeling when you play a final and don’t win is obviously very bitter, very disappointing. But the sensations that invade me are, I have a wonderful group of men in my locker room who obviously at this moment are suffering, but will get up as the true champions they are and proceed our way.”

However, out there, on the airwaves and the treacherous streets located in the precincts of social media, there are less rosy views. Take the opinion of Sundowns legend Manqoba “Shakes” Ngwenya on YouTube podcast Soccerbeat.

“In games like this chances are few and far between and we got really good chances,” the former stylish midfielder conceded.

“With those fine margins in a game like this, it’s going to be tough, especially playing away from home against a Pyramids that showed at Loftus they wanted to win. I don’t think we played to our full potential to be honest. I think the boys will look at themselves and think this was not the best of Sundowns and we could have won this game.

“Disappointing, too, to have a guy like ‘Mshishi’ [Zwane], who has been there done that, who knows how to win games at Sundowns, not even getting minutes at all. But you know what, the coach always has his own idea and he didn’t see it the way we see it.

“All the supporters, I think, knew tonight we needed Mshishi to bring some magic. He can create something out of nothing, take pressure off [Brazilian playmaker Lucas] Ribeiro. But that didn’t happen. Unfortunately the coach’s plan didn’t work. That’s how the cookie crumbles. I guess now it’s full focus on another big tournament, which is the Club World Cup.”

The Club World Cup starts in the US on June 14 and runs to July 13. Expanded from a seven-team event to 32, in a national team-style World Cup format, Downs meet Ulsan HD of Korea (June 17), Borussia Dortmund (June 21) and Fluminense (June 25) in the group stage.

Rather than dilute the standard, the expansion makes the new World Cup far more intimidating. No longer are there two strong clubs, one from Europe and one from South America, competitive sides from Africa and Asia, and weak ones from Oceania and Concacaf, but a line-up of the world’s most famous super-clubs.

In the old format, Sundowns’ only excursion to the competition in Osaka, Japan, in 2016 saw sound beatings from Kashima Antlers of Japan (2-0) and Jeonbuk Hyundai of Korea (4-1). Downs chair Tlhopie Motsepe has suggested that was more of a cultural, fact-finding introduction to the Club World Cup, and Downs hope for a stronger showing in the US.

Cardoso will have to tighten up some aspects if his side are to carry themselves well against crack outfits like giants of Brazil Fluminense and Germany Borussia, never mind the Koreans.

Downs are built on a core who have been together for some years, a group that also formed the basis of Hugo Broos’s Bafana Bafana, who won bronze at the last Africa Cup of Nations. Cardoso has to get them regrouped, lifted, harden them even further, eliminate the mistakes they suffered against Pyramids and his own, to stand any chance of being competitive at the World Cup.

His job might be riding on the success or failure of that objective.