Mamelodi Sundowns coach Migual Cardoso has given an indication of how important Themba Zwane remains to the team, as he described what type of captain he likes to have in his teams.
Cardoso registered a 1-0 victory in his first match as a Sundowns coach over the weekend, beating Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca in a CAF Champions League group stage match at Loftus Stadium.
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Zwane has been out recovering from injury over the last couple of months and Ronwen Williams has been wearing the captain's armband in his absence.
Before the match, the former Esperance coach explained how important the role of the captain is, as he expects all his players to display qualities of a leader on the pitch.
If what Cardoso said is anything to go by, then he is going to have a group of captains at the club, which is not uncommon in football.
"I like to have captains that have a profile to help the coach to lead the team in terms of leadership, in terms of helping the team inside the pitch. I like that every player (must) have the attitude of a captain. Everybody must accept responsibility on the hands, so that the captain is just one more and not the captain himself," Cardoso told media at Chloorkop.
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"I believe we work on a collective attitude because there is an intervention from the coach, or one of the captains...Themba (Zwane), Denis (Onyango), Ronza (Williams) or Teboho (Mokoena), it's because they want to shape the character of the group. If the character is already shaped, they don't need to intervene. It means everybody can have the right attitude. And Themba keeps that for us. We welcomed a young boy that is a big fan of Ronza and unfortunately he is suffering from cancer. We invited him to be with us and to pray at the beginning of the training session, so that we could give him some extra energy to fight this disease. We have the captains with us always."
