‘I’m not the father!’ Cardoso claps back as criticised Sundowns star delivers

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has finally responded to alleged favouritism claims regarding Tashreeq Matthews.

The 25-year-old attacker has been one of the players who have enjoyed game time under the Portuguese tactician regardless of his form. On Wednesday, the winger was named the Man of the Match as Masandawana beat AmaZulu 5-2 in the Premier Soccer League outing at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

A well-deserved MOTM award for Matthews 🔥#Sundowns #BetwayPrem #NeverStopRising pic.twitter.com/ntVeUcvdvg

— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) August 26, 2026

In the aforementioned fixture, Matthews was directly involved in three goals that the Brazilians scored. He found the back of the net once and provided two assists, as defenders struggled to contain him.

Cardoso insists Matthews gets his chances on merit, denying any suggestions of favouritism.

‘I deal with performance’

“Tashreeq is one of the most criticised players in this club, but he’s doing things well. Tashreeq grew throughout the season. I’m not Tashreeq’s father of Tashreeq as people keep saying, ‘ah, the coach just puts [him on]’. No, no, no! I deal with performance,” he told the media.

“He was consistent in showing in training sessions that he deserved to play. And he played; when he doesn’t show, he stays out. Last match, he stayed because he was not strong enough during the preparation, so he stayed out.

“Now, he came back. Maybe he’s fresher, and that’s why he performed. Because fatigue also obviously affects the capacity to produce stable behaviours.

“And I also think that Tashreeq is too criticised because sometimes he wants to do well, and I know that in the [Club] World Cup, there was a goal he could’ve scored; in the final against Pyramids he has a goal he could’ve scored – yes, there was.

“The question is not the ones that he didn’t score; it’s the ones that he can score after he failed. Because [on Wednesday], when the match finished, I gave an embrace to Mali, and I told him exactly that,” Cardoso added.

Don’t criticise ‘the best in the world’

“After you fail, it’s important how you react. That speaks for you, not the mistake you made. The mistake you obviously have to avoid and grow from there, but how you show your character and finish the match continuously the way he had to play. And this is how we support our players,” Cardoso continued.

“Because if I allow my coaches, or I allow my club, or I allow my fans or our fans to criticise our own players, we cannot. We need to support, support, support!

“Because they’re the ones we have, and the ones we have are the most important players for us. And for us they are the best in the world. And then we go to see if every match we play, there’s someone better than us. But with this belief, the team has to grow, and we need to be united, united, united!” The