Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has identified an area South African football should improve on so that the league’s standard becomes higher.
Cardoso joined Sundowns in December 2024 following the club’s inconsistent performances. The Portuguese mentor replaced Manqoba Mngqithi who left with his assistants Romain Folz and Wendell Robinson. As for Steve Komphela and Kennedy Mweene, they survived the chop.
Recently, the experienced mentor guided the Tshwane giants to the quarter-finals of the CAF Champions league. Sundowns finished second in Group B with nine points.
In the eight matches across all competitions for Masandawana, the former Esperance coach has suffered one defeat against Raja Casablanca in the CAF Champions League. The other matches have ended in five victories and two draws.
MIGUEL CARDOSO SAYS SA FOOTBALL SHOULD IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF IT’S PITCHES
The 52-year-old says SA football should improve the quality of it’s pitches. In turn, this will help to improve the quality of football.
In the Betway Premiership, there are top iconic stadiums that were used during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This include the likes of FNB Stadium, DHL Stadium, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and New Peter Mokaba Stadium. The other stadiums include Toyota Stadium, Moses Mabhida Stadium, Loftus Versfeld Stadium and Mbombela Stadium.
“A little bit tough to deal with the quality of the pitches because that’s something I think about in South Africa regarding the watering of the pitches,” said Cardoso.
“If we understand that football is a merchandise, it’s something we sell, there is public watching games. There are tv rights paid and people at home for a better show. That’s the better they will profit from it, the better the rights will be sold by higher prices.
“There is no reason to try equalise the games by slow pitches, low quality, the grass is not cut and the water is not done. This is not how the show should be done. When you go to a cinema you want people to sit at right places so that the show can be good, then the outcome of it is the quality of the movie you have.
“We provide the best conditions for teams to perform and then at the end tha’ts the product we sell. It’s an appointment that I did already. It’s a good moment to speak about it, at the end everyone wants the level of football to grow.
CARDOSO SAYS QUALITY FOOTBALL PITCHES WILL IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF SA FOOTBALL
“In my experience, if you want to play [Club] World Cup, CAF competition you have to go according to the rules. Watering the pitches in the warm-up, half time improves the levels of the game.
“As much as the level is high, the quality and level of our opportunities to sell the rights is the best. We have fantastic football here, it should be taken abroad even in Europe. Why not, we have wonderful football matches here that i profited from, classic matches that should sell. That’s just a remark, it just positives not negative.”
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