Mamelodi Sundowns are dead set on winning the CAF Champions League and they have put their trust in a man who hardly has experience in the competition, but has a good record.
New Brazilians coach Miguel Cardoso has spent most of his coaching career in Europe, working at Rio Ave in Portugal, Nantes in France, Celta Vigo in Spain and AEK Athens in Greece. He also worked as an assistant coach with the likes of Braga in Portugal and Shakhtar Donetsk.
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His first taste of African football came when he was appointed coach of Tunisian outfit Esperance in January this year. By the time he took over from Tarek Thabet, Esperance had already played four Champions League group stage matches and won two of them.
He had a job of seeing them through the group stage campaign and they finished second in Group C behind Angolan outfit Petro de Luanda. In the two group stage matches he was in charge, Esperance beat Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel 2-0 and edged Sudanese outfit Al Hilal 1-0.
In the quarter-finals, they took on Ivorian outfit ASEC Mimosas. Both the first and the second leg matches finished goalless, so the match had to be decided on penalties, which Esperance won 4-2.
The semi-final was against the club he now coaches, Sundowns. Facing Rulani Mokwena, Cardoso made his mark, recording 1-0 victories in both legs to win the tie 2-0 on aggregate.
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In the final, they came up against the continent's most successful club in Egyptian giants Al Ahly. The first leg in Tunisia ended goalless but Ahly came out on top in the second leg, winning it 1-0.
One thing that stood out during the matches was how solid and well-structured Esperance were in those matches. In total, he was in charge of eight Champions League matches last season and Esperance only conceded one goal, but they scored five times, which is something he'd want to improve on as he prepares to take on Raja Casablanca this Sunday in his first match as Sundowns coach.
While Cardoso has an impressive CAF record, the main concern would be his overall record at clubs since leaving Rio Ave in 2018. The Portuguese tactician didn't last many games at each of Nantes, Celta de Vigo and AEK Athens. Then on his return to Rio Ave, followed by Esperance he was in charge of 20 and 26 matches respectively. That was a relative improvement on his previous three clubs, but Sundowns will be hoping that he can build something bigger in the long term in South Africa.
