Sundowns’ Cardoso outlines playing philosophy ahead of Raja tie

Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso has given a clear indication of how he wants his Mamelodi Sundowns team to set up. 

Sundowns are known for their free-flowing football and Cardoso will be expected to implement a playing philosophy that matches the club’s ideology.

Although the 52-year-old coach is somewhat of a journeyman, has an impressive CV that includes stints at well-established clubs like Shakthar Donetsk in Ukraine, Nantes in the French league as well as La Liga’s Celta Vigo in Spain. 

Masandawana will be against Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca in the CAF Champions League at Loftus Versveld on Sunday in what will be Cardoso’s first game in charge. 

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“I want a team that can control games and to control games, the team must be solid in all four moments of the game and understand what to do with the ball. It’s clear that you have to move not just the ball but the opponents in order to find the right spaces and attack,” Cardoso said about his playing model.

“We really need to understand the question of where the spaces are and how we should use the space. Being in control of the game also has to do with being very aggressive when you lose the ball because as much as you control the game, there are moments where you’re going to lose the ball and you need at that moment to be very strong.

“I think that’s a moment where the team needs to grow a lot and for that you need to have a huge solidarity amongst the players because I prefer that the players run for three to four seconds to recover the ball immediately rather than to come back and re-organise.”

Ultimately, Cardoso will be judged by how well he does in the biggest club competition on the African continent. While at the helm of Esperance, he lost last season’s final against Al-Ahly having knocked out Sundowns in the semi-finals.

“Obviously, I already knew the team because we had to study it very deeply last season in the two games of the Champions League semi-finals. That’s part of the job of a coach to be updated about the best teams in Africa,” Cardoso added.

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“It’s obvious and clear that the players we have are technically well developed. They suit a game of a coach that wants to impose himself on the teams because the base is to have quality players.”