Cardoso NOT CONCERNED with possible Sundowns fatigue – ‘We are here to find solutions’

Mamelodi Sundowns will have a good number of players representing their respective national teams in the international assignments.

Already, some are with Amajita taking part in the ongoing U20 FIFA World Cup in Chile, where they have already collected a win and a loss from the two Group E games played so far. Apart from Peter Shalulile and Devine Lunga, who will feature for Namibia and Zimbabwe respectively, Masandawana have eight players in the Bafana Bafana squad.

This might lead to fatigue for the defending Premier Soccer League champions; however, coach Miguel Cardoso is not concentrating on that, but rather on how to ensure his team delivers.

We are here to deal with solutions

“You come back on the job of that is head of a big team. It happens to me. It happens to many coaches all over the world. The call up to the national team just came out we know we are back with the numbers in the national team, which makes us proud. You know that we also have five players in the Under-20 national team,” he told the media.

“It means that the effectiveness of our squad in the next week will be very small and we have to prepare for the Champions League qualifying round for the groups where we are going to play two matches, and we are playing in Nigeria, which makes it even more difficult because we have to travel there, and the trip to Nigeria is obviously difficult. 

“The city we are going to play in, we have to travel for two days. We can not make both flights in one day, but we are here to deal with solutions, not problems. We have to do the best possible,” he added.

We hope South Africa does well

“Understand the context of what will happen when the players finish their matches with the national team. Let's hope the youngsters can go through the competition long, and obviously, that Bafana does well, and then we will deal with the context that we have,” Cardoso continued.

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos announces his squad for the final 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe (Moses Mabhida Stadium) and Rwanda (Mbombela) this month.#BafanaPride@SABC_Sport pic.twitter.com/0XwK44e8xD

— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) October 2, 2025

“I am here to deal with the solution, not to deal with problems. I don't relate to problems. We will see who is in the best condition to find first eleven to start that match. But obviously it will not be such useful period of time as other coaches in those teams to have the chance we have. 

“For us, it's basically rest for the ones who stayed, trying to find among them numbers in order to work in a structure that gives us close to what we want and when the guys come from the other different parts of the world, let's say get the best. Their hearts and minds remind them of what we want as the principles of the game, and they try to play according to that as quickly as possible,” Cardoso concluded.

Sundowns are set to play Marumo Gallants this weekend in the Carling Knockout Round of 16.