“There will be no player more important than the team with me,” said Cardoso.
As Mamelodi Sundowns new coach Miguel Cardoso gets ready to take charge of his game against Raja Casablanca in the CAF Champions League at Loftus Versveld on Sunday, the Portuguese has called for unity amongst his players.
The Brazilians are without a win in their opening two matches of the group stage campaign following a disappointing goalless draw at home to AS Maniema Union and the 1-1 stalemate away to AS FAR in Morocco which has led to the sacking of Manqoba Mngqithi.
ALSO READ: Wasteful Orlando Pirates held to draw by Stade d’Abidjan
The Sundowns hierarchy have wasted no time in securing Cardoso his work permit and he will be on the bench against Casablanca after he was unveiled at Chloorkop on Tuesday, on the same day that Mngqithi’s departure was announced.
“We need to be strong in our defence and reorganise ourselves. That is also solidarity and commitment because there will be no player more important than the team with me. We can only do the task as a group and understand that we have the quality but we put our quality together because football is a collective sport and not an individual sport,” Cardoso said.
“The difficulties will come and we will overcome them when we are together so having a good defensive organisation is part of football and to understand that we need to be solid, organised and be a collective.
“That has nothing to do with being an offensive coach or a defensive one but we have to understand that to win trophies in tough games, it will be highlighted by the game itself. You must be up for the challenge or you’ll lose.”
Defending set-piece has been a problem for Sundowns even under the former coach Rulani Mokwena and Cardoso has highlighted that as an area where Masandawana need to improve under his tenure if they are to progress further in the champions league.
“We have to be strong on set-pieces because they’re a very important moment of the game. We also need to get goals from set-pieces but to work on that we need time and you get time by winning games,” he concluded.
ALSO READ: Sundowns’ Cardoso outlines playing philosophy ahead of Raja tie
“That’s all we want in order to continue and develop this mentality. You don’t win games on the day of the match but you win on the first day of training and this is the spirit I want to bring to the club.”
