Miguel Cardoso: 3 reasons Mamelodi Sundowns coach is walking on thin ice

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso faces the prospect of losing his job following his team’s less than impressive start to the season.

Sundowns lost their first league match of the season following a 1-0 defeat to Golden Arrows on Wednesday and their display left a lot to be desired.

The game was just the latest in a string of unimpressive performances and results recorded by Sundowns and it leaves Cardoso walking on thin ice over a number of reasons.

Inconsistent results

Sundowns have been the hallmark of consistency in South African football but their start to the 2025-26 campaign has been anything but.

The PSL champions may have lost just one of their nine league games but even when they were winning, they were not dominating over teams.

Most of the time, it has been down to their quality but now, rival teams have worked out a way of not just stopping but beating them.

A 1-1 draw with Chippa United, back-to-back 1-1 stalemates with Orlando Pirates, after taking the lead, in the MTN8 before being eliminated on penalties, being dominated by Kaizer Chiefs, another 1-1 result with Marumo Gallants last week added to the loss to Arrows are not results associated with Sundowns.

Those kinds of runs were not even witnessed under his predecessor Manqoba Mngqithi but he was still sacked and Cardoso will know that it cannot continue, otherwise he might not mark his first anniversary at Sundowns.

Unimpressive style of play

Sundowns are known as Bafana Ba Style but they have not shown it for large parts of the Cardoso reign.

While they were impressive in the league last season with dominant performances, they have not been this term, with their football bordering on boring and as a result, they have lost their aura to the extent rival teams are coming into matches believing they can beat them.

Teams are no longer just sitting back and waiting for a chance on the counter but taking the game to Sundowns and they are being rewarded as the Brazilians look vulnerable, unable to open up opponents at will and also struggle to cope with intense pressing and set-pieces.

Sundowns fans are therefore left bored as their team seems to be playing for the result and not doing it in an entertaining manner and just like Mngqithi was sacked for a poor style, Cardoso could be out of the job over the same.

Poor transfer window

Not the making of Cardoso but it is one key reason that could see him lose his job.

Sundowns have had a bad transfer window by their standards with four players brought in but three of them arrived in the final week, leaving the coach with little time to bed them in.

By the time Nuno Santos was being signed, Sundowns had already played eight league games while Miguel Reisinho will be confirmed after matchday nine. Early season signing Fawaaz Basadien has struggled for gametime while Katlego Ntsabeleng is still getting to grips with everything.

Cardoso is left relying on players who had no proper pre-season after returning late due to the FIFA Club World Cup and they have struggled to cope with the demands early in the season.

Add to the fact that Sundowns lost their best player Lucas Ribeiro and Cardoso has a massive problem.

However, results will ultimately decide his fate and no one will remember that he had a poor transfer window and bad pre-season hence the need to quickly get a tune out of what he has.