Cardoso: We Should Be Proud Of Ourselves
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso believes his team should hold their heads high despite exiting the FIFA Club World Cup at the group stages.
Sundowns concluded their campaign on Wednesday with a goalless draw against Brazilian side Fluminense at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, a match where they needed all three points in Group F to advance to the knockout rounds.
With the draw, Borussia Dortmund secured the top spot in Group F by defeating Ulsan HD 1-0 on the same day, while Fluminense claimed second place.
“We knew that this competition is very risky,” Cardoso stated at the post-match press conference. “Because you can do beautiful things, like we did, but you can also leave with nothing because the other teams are so strong. So, there’s a very thin line between achieving results, getting some credit, and getting nothing, and we couldn’t risk leaving with nothing.”
Sundowns earned four points in the tournament, the highest tally achieved by an African club participating in the FIFA Club World Cup, surpassing the records of Al Ahly, Wydad Casablanca, and Esperance.
Cardoso continued, “We leave here with four points; we won one, we drew, [and lost one]. We competed until the last minute. Could we have done more? It’s always possible to do more.”
Despite their early exit, Sundowns garnered widespread acclaim for their playing style, particularly their entertaining 4-3 loss to German giants Borussia Dortmund.
“Will I be sleeping peacefully tonight? For sure, believe me, for sure,” Cardoso affirmed. “For a long time, I haven’t slept in peace, but today I will sleep in peace because I feel very proud about the structure, I feel very proud about the players, I feel very proud about myself, my coaches, my staff, and there is no better sensation for a coach than to sleep peacefully.”
He emphasized the significance of their performance: “It’s a job done, recognition obtained. In 10 years, we will look back and understand what we did in this competition. Sometimes you are here and you tend to look at what you have in hand, but once you look back in 10 years, let’s hope when we do that, we were so ‘weak’ then and now we are much better.”
Cardoso stressed the importance of a proper evaluation of their Club World Cup experience. “It is why I feel it is very important that we make a right evaluation of what happened in this competition because we have to be better, we have to grow. We cannot go back and give the same. We showed ourselves at such a level that we need to understand our standard has increased. I will oblige everyone to be at this level until I leave the club because we now have a reference of a high level.”
He concluded by highlighting the broader implications for the club: “So now when we play our matches, we must be here [at this standard]. We also should profit from the absolute organization we had and also grow ourselves in terms of organization – media, quality of pitches, quality of facilities – everything has to grow from here.”
