Miguel Cardoso will walk with unease as he gets down to his first pre-season at Mamelodi Sundowns ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Why unease?
Whenever Cardoso has had pre-season with an employer in three of the last five jobs he has held it hasn’t come to a good ending.
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This time in 2018, Cardoso was at French club FC Nantes after having taken over from Caludio Ranieri but couldn’t last four months in the job following a poor start to the new season.
The Portuguese won one out of eight and was then replaced by Vahid Halilhodžić.
His next pre-season was at AEK Athens in 2019.
A.E.K had finished third in the Super League the previous season (2018/19) but after losing one league match under Cardoso decided to show him the door.
The Portuguese lasted a mere four games in that job with the other three matches having been in the Europa League qualifiers.
This meant less than two months in the job.
Then came Esperance where he took over in January 2024 then had pre-season in July before being fired in October after failing to win in his last three games in charge.
Cardoso endured severe media scrutiny in Tunisia with his style labelled as ultra defensive though he was said to have been brilliant at times during his tenure.
His latest pre-season is at Sundowns who will only have two weeks of preparations before they play their first match.
Since taking over in December, the 53-year-old has overseen 38 games at Sundowns with his count for wins at 25 including the club’s first ever at the FIFA Club World Cup which came against Ulsan UD.
There have been seven draws and six defeats.
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While he won the league last season, the new campaign will reflect heavily on his influence starting with the MTN8 quarterfinal against Richards Bay FC on Sunday, August 3.
The Portuguese is yet to make any signings in this window but has the MTN8, Betway Premiership, Carling, Nedbank, and the CAF Champions League to contest.
Photo: Mamelodi Sundowns
