Cardoso On Zwane’s Return: “No Pressure At All”
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso stated he felt no pressure when selecting his captain, Themba Zwane, for the FIFA Club World Cup opener against Ulsan HD on Wednesday.
There had been significant murmurs of discontent when Zwane missed both legs of the CAF Champions League final against Pyramids last month.
Many suggested that Zwane’s creative spark was sorely missed, significantly impacting the team’s performance.
It appears Cardoso was carefully managing Zwane’s return to bring him back to full fitness after he recovered from an ACL injury sustained in October last year. The injury occurred during international duty with Bafana Bafana in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier away against DR Congo.
Cardoso started Zwane against Ulsan HD at the Inter & Co Stadium on Wednesday. The 35-year-old played an integral role, dropping deep to initiate attacks. His influence was evident when Lucas Ribeiro Costa’s defense-splitting pass opened up Ulsan, allowing Iqraam Rayners to score the all-important goal in the first half.
“Regarding Themba, there are no ghosts from the past, not on me, nor from pressures inside the club, with the board, or with my players. You always have pressure when you’re settling into a coaching career like mine,” Cardoso said after the game.
“What happened is that Themba had an incredibly productive two weeks of preparation, and that’s the respect we need to have. I’ve spoken a lot about this because it seems people didn’t understand that Themba is coming from a growth process, from the moment he could properly rejoin the team and train. It’s important to give him the right opportunity so he can perform.”
He continued: “Today was the right opportunity for him to play, so I had no problems putting him in, even with the risk of people thinking I was doing it because of pressure. No, it’s not the case. Because I have such respect for my players, we play fair, we have trust, we have a lot of factors in our locker room that go beyond the question that was raised in the press. Mostly, it was clear that the criticism was meant to provoke someone, which I know who it is. But for sure, it didn’t influence our locker room. We have strong values, we trust each other, and the management trusts me, and we will continue moving forward until the end.”
The win saw Sundowns move to the top of Group F with three points, capitalizing after Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund played to a goalless draw in the earlier match.
Sundowns will now face Dortmund at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday (6 PM SA time) and then the Brazilian side Fluminense in their final group game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on June 25 (9 PM SA time).
