Miguel Cardoso allowed himself a moment to feel everything on Sunday night in Rabat — the relief, the vindication, the emotion of a promise kept.
The Mamelodi Sundowns head coach led his side to their second CAF Champions League title after overcoming ASFAR 2-1 on aggregate, with the second leg at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium ending 1-1.
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But the victory meant so much more than silverware. For Cardoso, it was the completion of a journey that began in tears in Cairo twelve months ago.
“I’m proud,” he said in the mixed zone. “I told the coach from ASFAR the last two years was difficult to experience, but to be on this day, on the other side — it was time. Last year I saw tears from my players, and a few of them, they knew we promised each other that we have tears of joy and not sadness.”
Sundowns had suffered the pain of defeat in last season’s final against Egypt’s Pyramids FC, and Cardoso recalled one image from that night that stayed with him through every difficult moment of the following year. Soccerbullet
“You remember Mudau, standing on the side of the bench in Cairo, crying, in the match against Pyramids last year — and I embraced him and told him we will embrace again next year,” he said. “That belief, with hard work, commitment, capacity to define moments – which sometimes is by thin margins.”
The Portuguese coach also took a moment to reflect on the doubters — those who questioned his appointment and his credentials from the very beginning.
“I think about the players, the people that believed in me,” he said. “I think about the questions I was put in by journalists when I arrived for that press conference, asking me — what are you doing here coach? Where did you come from?”.
“It’s time to remember that even those who didn’t believe — that we did it. Not the shirt has a second star, not mine but Sundowns – the commitment of the club towards the direction, it’s been done, and the work of many people.”
Cardoso had taken clubs to the last two Champions League finals before this triumph, falling short with Esperance of Tunisia in 2024 and Sundowns last season – a record that had invited scrutiny and scepticism in equal measure. On Sunday, all of it dissolved.
He closed with a tribute to the collective that made the dream possible. “It’s time to remember people in the club, but also those who are here. I’m proud of the squad, the administration, the Sporting Director, my Chairman and all the staff that worked very hard. Lots of emotions, lots of sweat.”
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