Cardoso spent a number of years plying his trade in South Africa’s third division, where Magic have risen from to come up against Amakhosi in their Nedbank Cup round of 16 clash this afternoon (15h00).
Chiefs don’t have the best record against teams from the lower division when it comes to this particular competition, having previously been dumped out by FC Cape Town (now Ubuntu Cape Town) in 2009 and Baroka in 2011.
Having come through the lower ranks himself, the 29-year-old is well aware of the sort of step-up their Cape-based counterparts will experience and warned his teammates against complacency.
“I was at Wits [University], Highlands Park, Yebo Yes and Lusitano when I was playing in the Vodacom [now ABC Motsepe] League,” said Cardoso.
“It’s a much different ball-game, it’s very fast-paced and not as relaxed as the PSL, so we know they’re going to be pressing us – they saw us against Tornado.
“And Tornado was a tough game, but we made it difficult for ourselves, and if you do that and don’t take your opportunities to kill the game early on, it’s going to haunt you.
“Tornado took us to extra-time so we’re very aware of what we have to do on Sunday, and hopefully we can sort our finishing problem out.”
The former Free State Stars centre-back also identified some of the challenges encountered by teams from the amateur division and believes the opportunity to beat Chiefs is as appealing as lifting the cup itself to a club like Magic.
“We have all the facilities and training equipment, but they battle. When I was at Lusitano, we were training in Southern Suburbs [in Johannesburg South] – it was hardly even a field, it’s so poor,” he added.
“So, for them to come into a game like this and play on a lovely pitch in Port Elizabeth – I mean, that’s one of the best stadiums in the country, and they’re going to want to showcase their capabilities.
“We have contracts, so we’re comfortable; they want to still earn those contracts, so we can’t be too comfortable on the day and sit back and relax.
“They don’t really fly out much because you play in your region [in the ABC Motsepe League], so for them to be playing Kaizer Chiefs is a cup final – if they get past us, they’ve won the Nedbank Cup already and they’ll go through the roof in celebration, and won’t worry about any other game still to come.”