Mamelodi Sundowns chairman Tlhopie Motsepe has revealed why the club refused to sack Miguel Cardoso when the Portuguese coach appeared to have fallen short of expectations.

Cardoso arrived at Chloorkop in December 2024 with one major challenge — end Sundowns’ long wait for the CAF Champions League.

But his first attempt ended in heartbreak. Sundowns reached the 2024/25 final but were beaten by Pyramids FC, who lifted the trophy after winning the second leg in June 2025.

The defeat left some Sundowns supporters questioning Cardoso’s future, particularly after he left captain Themba Zwane out of the starting XI for the decisive match.

Yet Sundowns opted against making another coaching change. According to Motsepe, the club believed sacking Cardoso at that stage would have been a knee-jerk reaction.

Speaking on Marawa Sports Worldwide last week, Motsepe explained that Sundowns had to look beyond one disappointing result.

“Can we really release somebody in that short space, in this bumpy period? He took us to the final of the Champions League, which we hadn’t been in for the past nine years,” said Motsepe.

The chairman also pointed to what Cardoso’s team showed at the FIFA Club World Cup as evidence that something special was developing.

Sundowns eventually failed to reach the knockout stages in the United States, but they beat Ulsan HD, narrowly lost 4-3 to Borussia Dortmund and held Fluminense to a goalless draw.

For Motsepe, those performances showed that Sundowns were evolving.

“There were elements that we saw at the Club World Cup that just showed us the ‘shoeshine and piano’, a Mamelodi Sundowns that was touching something that we hadn’t really touched before,” he added.

Motsepe believes the lesson was that football projects cannot be abandoned at the first sign of trouble. And Sundowns were eventually rewarded for their patience.

Cardoso went on to lead Masandawana to their long-awaited Champions League triumph, ending a decade-long wait for the continental crown.

He has also guided the club to the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup, further strengthening the argument that Sundowns made the right call by sticking with him.

“You don’t bring someone in and then at the first sign of shakiness you let them go. Unless the results and the performances are so bad,” Motsepe said.

In the end, Sundowns chose patience — and Cardoso delivered the trophies, and more are expected.

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