Miguel Cardoso has impressed at Sundowns Eyebrows were raised when Mamelodi Sundowns fired Manqoba Mngqithi and replaced him with Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso, pictured. Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP
Image: Khaled Desouki/AFP
Many eyebrows were raised when perennial Betway Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns parted ways with Manqoba Mngqithi as head coach.
When the club ruthlessly pulled the plug on Mngqithi’s reign, they were sitting pretty at the top of the league having won seven of their eight matches played. And in all competitions, they had a record of played 19, won 13, drawn 2 and lost 4.
That was a record many head coaches in South Africa – and probably the world – would be proud of. A quick look at the football history books will suggest that very few head coaches have lost their jobs with such a record.
And yet, Sundowns ended Mngqithi’s tenure, leading many to wonder just what was going on at Chloorkop.
And to top it all off, Miguel Cardoso, the man Sundowns hired to replace Mngqithi, didn’t have the best CV around. The Portuguese tactician had limited success throughout his journeyman career that's seen him take charge of clubs in Spain, Portugal, Greece, France, and Tunisia.
In seven years, he has one league title to his name, and was fired by Tunisian giants Esperance last year. Cardoso didn’t have the kind of CV that scream “this is a Sundowns coach”.
But, since taking over at Sundowns, Cardoso has started to get the team firing this season. The criticism levelled at Mngqithi was that while the Brazilians were still winning games, they were winning narrowly. They were picking up 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 victories. They weren’t always at their best, and that worried the club’s supporters.
Under Cardoso, the team have been firing on all cylinders and scoring freely. On Saturday, they ran fellow title contenders Orlando Pirates off the park and opened up a comfortable nine-point gap at the top
We’re now starting to see why the Sundowns hierarchy weren’t too concerned about his unremarkable CV. Football is played on the pitch and not on paper. Sundowns’ form on the pitch suggests the club hit the nail on the head and got it completely right by appointing Cardoso.
Those who questioned the club for sacking Mngqithi and replacing him with Cardoso got it wrong. Sundowns are clearly a football club who know what they’re doing, especially when it comes to recruiting. It’s going to take a monumental effort from their rivals to prevent them from winning an eighth-straight league title.
Right now, the sky is the limit for this Sundowns team.
IOL Sport
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