Miguel Cardoso makes honest Pirates, Chiefs admission | OneFootball

Interview

Cardoso on competiton from Pirates, Chiefs

Photo: BackPagePix

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has made an honest admission of the strength of Soweto juggernauts Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.

The Downs mentor has come under heavy scrutiny for Masandawana's slow start to the 2025/26 campaign, with a section of the club's fanbase calling out his perceived pragmatic approach.

Now, Cardoso attributed the sluggish performances to the increased level of competition in the Betway Premiership, particularly highlighting the ambitious window their Soweto rivals had.

"The competition has raised the level, you saw both Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs making very strong pre-season, going abroad to find opponents, bringing players as quick as possible, making very strong market. You see this team of Pirates changing players and you don't feel the difference.

"They can give the luxury to stay out with [Kamogelo] Sebelebele that has been one of the most important players in the team and Rele [Mofokeng] that last year was fighting for the best player of the league with Lucas Ribeiro and you don't feel the difference because it's clear that the depth of this squad is very big than what it was in the recent past and that has to do with the market that was done in summer.

"Kaizer Chiefs I see the same, you saw yesterday [Friday] they won the game from the bench with high quality players entering and forcing [Gaston] Sirino now to go on the bench. So, South African football teams are raising the level, so when the level raises it's obvious that the things will be more equal and as it's clear we didn't start the season in the best way we should have started in terms of conditions we had to start at.

He added: "So, we have also to cope with that. When I said that, I knew our beginning would be difficult. I think now, and only now we start to have conditions to grow this team to the level that we want to grow.

Sundowns will be back in action with a league clash against TS Galaxy at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Wednesday.