Is Cardoso running scared? Sundowns coach wowed by Orlando Pirates’ quality 

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso admits Orlando Pirates have elevated the quality of their squad with what they did in the transfer window.

Pirates brought in 11 players in the off-season and have handed nearly all of them a run out in the team with five; Sihle Nduli, Masindi Nemtajela, Lebone Seema, Tshepang Moremi and Oswin Appollis starting in their 1-1 draw against Sundowns on Saturday.

It was also a young player, Camren Dansin, getting his second start, who equalised for Pirates after Peter Shalulile had given Sundowns the lead, and Cardoso is wowed by the quality of Pirates which has seen some of their best players of last season struggle for game time this term.

“I’m not saying – what they did [in the market] was balance much more their team compared to what they had in the past,” Cardoso said as per iDiski Times.

“Now they can change players and keep a lot of pressure on the opposition, with the quality they bring from the bench… Guys, I’ve been here from one year, so I don’t know but from what I heard before is that they brought many quality inside the team.

Cardoso surprised by strengths of Pirates

“I asked my head analyst, assistant coach to make a list of all the players in the squad – of course I know them well but when you see that players that were so important for them last year, this season, they don’t even put the shirt on.

“You then understand how strong the team is compared to the past – because there’s a lot of players who don’t even put the shirt on and I started from the striker [Mabasa], Mbatha doesn’t play, Van Rooyen – I can state many more.

“Even Rele, the second-best player last season, wasn’t playing, so I’m not saying they are better or worse because that doesn’t exist – you need to prove it every day, but according to the availability of players, I’m sure Ouaddou wanted Mofokeng on the bench and Sebelebele.”

Cardoso admits that he was relieved that some of Pirates’ star players were not available and had advised his charges to take advantage but they did not.

Sundowns coach rues missed opportunity

“If they were not on the bench, it’s because they are not available – his team today was not so strong, I told my guys, if we score first, they will not have weapons to score twice, if we took it to the last stages, it won’t be what happened in the cup,” he added.

“They wouldn’t have energy to bring on that could threaten us – and you saw how they tried to aggress us with Tito and Mbule – players who can’t go into the spaces like Mofokeng or Sebelebele as a winger could.

“So Ouaddou didn’t have the weapons to make something more powerful, if he had the bench he would have wanted, he could have made more danger against us than he did.”

Besides the five who started on Saturday, Pirates also signed Sipho Mbule, Yanela Mbuthuma, Nkosikhona Ndaba, Sinoxolo Kwayiba, Tshepo Mashiloane and Azola Tshobeni.