Barren run stopping players from joining Chiefs – Cardoso

Amakhosi are in their fourth season without a trophy but are hopeful of ending the drought with the Nedbank Cup where they host Cape Town City in a quarter final match at Mbombela Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

“Everyone comes to Chiefs to win trophies… but at the moment I don’t think anyone wants to come here because we are not winning anything,” said the defender who was with Bafana Bafana when they beat Libya last weekend.

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“It is still a big club, a big brand but if you are not winning trophies, people start turning around and they say they want to win trophies (and go elsewhere). But once we get that culture (of winning trophies) back people are going to want to come here.

“I came here to win trophies. It is unfortunate that I haven’t won one yet. Maybe I brought the bad luck… no, no, no I’m joking. It’s just the way football is but I am confident that I will win a trophy with the team, hopefully starting now (with the Nedbank Cup) and not just one but a few cups,” said Cardoso.

The 30-year-old also described Bafana’s qualification for the Caf Africa Cup of Nations as a great feeling that will motivate him to work even harder to ensure he is picked for the squad who will represent the country in Egypt in June.

“When Bafana win, you can see the nation is proud. Things change and apparently even load shedding has stopped for a month. It’s good. I am glad that we qualified for Afcon. I think it was well deserved. It is good to be a part of the setup again.

“But obviously my place is not cemented there, I still have a while, a few games to be consistent and hopefully I will be called up for the Afcon side.”

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