Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has admitted that winning a domestic cup competition remains a missing piece of his South African coaching CV, as the Brazilians look to overturn a first-leg deficit against Golden Arrows.
Sundowns were beaten 2-1 by Arrows in the first leg, leaving Cardoso’s side with work to do in the return fixture as they attempt to keep their cup hopes alive.
While Sundowns have continued to dominate the domestic league and enjoyed a historic CAF Champions League triumph last season, Cardoso acknowledged that domestic cup success has so far eluded him since arriving in South Africa.
“Regarding cup finals, it’s obviously something I told the boys – it’s something missing from us – not just finals but victories on domestic cups,” Cardoso said.
“It’s not like I heard that other day where someone said we had not won nothing [here]. We won the league, okay without a cup – and last year we didn’t win the cup in South Africa.
“In the first season we played only one, the other two had already been played by the club. It’s a minus, obviously.”
‘I want to put cups on my CV in South Africa’
Cardoso has already added a league title and Champions League success to his achievements with Sundowns, but admits he wants to add domestic cup silverware to his CV before his time in South Africa is over.
“I want to put cups on my CV in South Africa – and we still can,” he said.
However, the Portuguese coach believes Sundowns will need to rediscover the mentality that helped them navigate the Champions League if they are to complete the comeback against Arrows.
“To make this one, we need to live the spirit of the Champions League,” Cardoso explained.
“Today and yesterday, I told them we need to play like it’s Champions League qualifying round where you have two matches.
“I even told Denis [Onyango], tell them what they need to do to play this match as a Champions League [match].”
Despite admitting that Sundowns failed to produce the required intensity in the first leg, Cardoso insists the tie is far from over.
“Yeah, we didn’t do [that], but still there’s 90 minutes and I hope that spirit is embedded and lived by the team in the right way when we go and pick the flight to go to Golden Arrows,” he added.
“We can do the second leg in the level we need to have. It will be tough but it’s possible to do what’s needed to be done.”