Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has offered his thoughts on the Betway Premiership’s level of competition, contrasting it with his experiences in leagues like Tunisia and Ukraine.
Cardoso recently joined Sundowns after the club changed its technical team following some inconsistent results, including the 2-1 defeat against Magesi FC in the Carling Knockout Cup final last month.
Masandawana parted ways with Manqoba Mngqithi who left with Romain Folz and Wendell Robinson. Steve Komphela and Kennedy Mweene survived chop.
The former Esperance coach came alongside his three assistant coaches. These are namely; Fabio Fernandes, Pedro Azevedo and Joao Araujo.
So far, the Portuguese-born mentor has been in charge of Sundowns’ four matches in all competitions. That’s one game in the CAF Champions League against Raja Casablanca and three in the matches league.
The Tshwane giants won all three league matches defeating Stellenbosch FC 1-0, won 1-0 against AmaZulu FC and edged Richards Bay FC 2-0. At the back, they have been solid as they are yet to concede a goal.
WHAT MIGUEL CARDOSO SAID ABOUT THE BETWAY PREMIERSHIP
Mamelodi Sundowns vs Richards Bay FC. Picture courtesy of Mamelodi Sundowns
From the three league matches the 52-year-old has been in charge of, he says the Betway Premiership is a tough league with a lot of competition.
He further admitted that the SA top-flight has a different intensity from the previous places he has coached. Cardoso has coached teams like FC Porto, Braga, Deportivo La Coruna, Celta Vigo AEK Athens Nanyes and Shakhtar Donetsk.
“The league is obviously a tough league, the physical level in matches is very high. We have data that if I compare to the previous places where I was, there is high intensity. The way players win matches is highly incredible, that’s the major difference,” said Cardoso.
“But it’s important that we have the capacity to give an asset to that because also those actions are the ones that make differences in matches. If we can sustain them in the parts of the game where the other team is more tired to cope with the style of game like we saw today [against Richards Bay].
“We saw the last two ones that we played, also AmaZulu it’s the same styles. A lot of runs back, it’s quite difficult to have a team travelling together on the pitch. We go up together, we come up together, sometimes we are going up, the ball is coming here so we have to come back and it separates the team to be connected and organised.
“Sometimes we need to organise ourselves at the back so that we can go together in front. Tough competition, very exciting in terms of management on my part. Competition is there, we have to focus on us, in the right moments because certainly, the decisive moments will arrive, on those moments we have to be positive and be ready for it.”
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