Sundowns coaching shuffle ushers in new era with Miguel Cardoso ...

Although decorated South African soccer coach Pitso Mosimane departed Mamelodi Sundowns almost five years ago, his influence on the club was still being felt. 

That is, until Manqoba Mngqithi was sacked by the club due to not meeting their standards just a few months after taking over the reins from Rulani Mokwena, who was also dismissed.

Both men formed a vital part of the team that Mosimane built when he took over Masandawana in 2012, working in tandem as Mosimane’s assistants until his departure for Al Ahly in 2020. 

They were then installed as co-coaches for that season, and tasked with continuing to build on the legacy they had helped create as Mosimane’s right- and left-hand men. However, their dual tenure did not last long, as Mokwena ascended to sole head coach in 2022 — with Mngqithi demoted to “senior coach”, which was just a fancy way of saying assistant coach. 

Now left to be sole boss, Mokwena created one of the most visually appealing soccer sides South Africa has ever seen. However, for all their record-setting dominance and beautiful play in the Premiership, the Champions League title remained elusive for Mokwena, even though he was part of the technical team that won Masandwana’s maiden African title in 2016.  

Ultimately, this, plus alleged run-ins with Downs’ Sporting Director, Flemming Berg, cost Mokwena his job at the end of last season. 

Then Mngqithi finally earned his opportunity to be sole boss at the beginning of this season, but his time on the throne did not last long. 

Despite Sundowns occupying top spot in the league (level on 21 points with Orlando Pirates, but ahead on goal difference), they have struggled in the African Champions League. Sundowns collected just two points from as many games under Mngqithi in the continental competition. They scored a single goal.

Losing the Carling Knockout Cup final 2-1 to Premiership rookies Magesi in November had already piled the pressure on Mngqithi. 

Now the club has decided to relieve Mngqithi of his duties, along with long-serving goalkeeper coach Wendell Robinson. The pair were the last remnants of the highly successful Mosimane era and philosophy.  

“We must never be slaves to our history. We need to celebrate it and make sure it’s something that drives us forward. As a club of 54 years of heritage and existence, we always have to keep striving to grow, adapt and find new ways to achieve our dreams. We made our decision on that need,” said Sundowns Thlopie Motsepe.

“We wanted to make sure that we gave this coaching team, led by coach Manqoba and Wendell, the opportunity to start the season and see what they could do with the current crop of players,” Motsepe said. “Subsequently, the season started and the team wasn’t reaching the heights that we had hoped for and that the board had expected,” he said.

Miguel Cardoso has taken over the reins from Mngqithi, in a move which is also probably influenced by Sundowns’ ambitions at the 2025 Club World Cup in the US. The Portuguese tactician joins Sundowns with three of his assistants: Fabio Fernandes, Pedro Azevedo and João Araújo. 

“We see ourselves as a football club that’s ambitious and aspirational. And the players in our team have dreams, they want to be the best players and people they can possibly be. We believe coach Miguel will unlock that ability and we’ll be the best of the team in the coming months,” said Sundowns chairperson Motsepe.  

Cardoso has coached at clubs such as Porto, Braga, Deportivo La Coruna, Celta Vigo, AEK Athens, Nantes and Shakhtar Donetsk. He only has one trophy as a head coach, winning the Tunisian top-flight with Espérance. He guided the Tunisian giants to the Champions League final in 2023/24, where they were defeated 1-0 by Al Ahly. He left Tunisia in October.

Cardoso defended the lack of trophies on his CV, despite its length. The 52-year-old said most of the teams he had previously coached were teams fighting for survival, as opposed to fighting for trophies. He said he had shown that he could win with African giants Espérance.

“We live in a society and sports where people judge the CVs by the trophies. But sometimes they forget that in order to win, you need to be in a context where you truly fight to win. Sometimes you are in a context where winning is not getting trophies,” Cardoso added.  Steve Komphela and Sundowns’ former goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene have been retained on the technical team. DM