Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has detailed how he protected the club’s attacker, Tashreeq Matthews, last month.
Cardoso was discussing the challenges of maintaining sharpness and happiness among all the players in his large squad.
The Tshwane giants boast a talented 40-player squad. Since taking over the reins in December 2024, Cardoso has utilised 33 of those players within a 124-day period.
Cardoso admitted that “it was a tough job”, primarily due to his affection for all the players at Sundowns.
“You like them so much. There were moments even when you gave not many minutes. But the answers in general from the players were good,” Cardoso said.
“It means that you stay attached to that performance, and sometimes you want to please them, but you cannot because the rules of the game are so clear. The fact that some players raise their hands also makes the other ones get out or go off the list on a regular basis.”
The Portuguese mentor gave an example of Neo Maema, who was outstanding for Bafana Bafana in the CHAN qualifier against Egypt. Following that performance, Maema was included in Sundowns’ team that lost 2-1 to Orlando Pirates in the Betway Premiership.
Cardoso believes when there’s “fixture congestion”, it becomes easier to rotate the squad.
HOW DID CARDOSO PROTECT TASHREEQ MATTHEWS
The former Esperance coach shed light on how he protected Matthews during the month of Ramadan. The talented attacker was fasting during the Ramadan period.
“This is also the work of the people who are behind me from the fitness department. And it’s very important because you are always balancing the players so that you have availability and choice. After all, you also don’t want the players to go on the pitch and don’t have conditions to perform.
“For example, as you understood, I protected Tariq [Mathews] during the period of Ramadan because in the beginning he was okay. But he dropped clearly his level, and we had to protect him because he’s such a detailed, physically very detailed and very particular player that we cannot expose him to bad performance.
“So we had to protect him so that he would keep his level protected because he’s a high-level player for us now.”
Out of six matches played during Ramadan, Matthews only started one and was used sparingly in five.
Meanwhile, Cardoso confirmed that Mothobi Mvala and Themba Zwane will be available for selection.
Sundowns are in the CAF Champions League semi-final where they face reigning African champions Al Ahly. The first-leg is set for Friday, 18 April, with the reverse fixture in Cairo seven days later.
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