Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has addressed the dynamics of selecting his captain at the club.
Sundowns current club captain is Themba Zwane, who has been ruled out with a long-term injury suffered while on international duty with Bafana Bafana.
Ronwen Williams has since stepped up with the armband, while Teboho Mokoena, Denis Onyango and Mosa Lebusa have also had their opportunities to lead the side previously.
While there’s a notable strength in leadership within the group, Cardoso notes he looks to a more collective understanding when it comes to the role.
“I like to have captains that have the profile to help the coach lead the team, in terms of leadership, in terms of helping teams inside the pitch regarding behaviours, and I’m speaking about normal behaviours of players but on the relation of themselves, the opponents and referees,” Cardoso said.
“But also the behaviours we want the team to have consistently. I like also that every player has the attitude of a captain, you understand what I mean? Everybody takes the responsibility on their hands so that the captain is just one more… and not the captain itself.
“I believe the players can do it if you work on a collective attitude because when there’s an intervention from the captain or one of the captains – Themba, Denis, or Ronza or Teboho, it’s because they want to shape the character of the group.
“So if their character is shaped, they don’t need to intervene. So it means that everyone can have the right attitude. And sometimes you just highlight the approach on a certain moment and then there are tasks natural from a captain.”
The former Celta Vigo and Nantes coach stated he looks to offer his side privacy and freedom to express themselves and noted that even the injured players has been part of their preparation this week after his appointment.
“Even some things I don’t know, I don’t enter the players’ lockerroom, I respect their privacy, but it’s been very simple so far to address the squad and captain Themba keeps close, even today we had the [injured] Mabena, Zwane because we welcomed a young boy [before training],” he continued.
“He’s a big fan of Ronza and unfortunately he’s suffering from cancer, and we invited him to be among us, to pray at the beginning of the session among us in training, so we could give him extra energy to fight this disease.
“And so we have the captains with us always, and the injured players with us and I see the joy from everyone, Themba was dancing in the middle before we prayed. They also made me dance [when I arrived], I’m not that kind of guy but I tried my best, I promised them if we win on Sunday I will dance again for them.”
