Ex-Sundowns star defends Cardoso’s rebuild
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Soccer Laduma (@soccer_laduma)
Rugby
Podcasts & Videos
The Club House
Win
–>
Former Mamelodi Sundowns defender Japie Motale has pleaded with supporters to be patient with head coach Miguel Cardoso. Photo: Gallo Images
Home
Psl
Mamelodi Sundowns
Ex-Sundowns star defends Cardoso’s rebuild
Aug 24, 2026 – 12:33 pm
By Sipho Mlotha
Mamelodi Sundowns’ mixed results in the 2026/27 season continued on Sunday following their 1-0 loss to underdogs Golden Arrows at Lucas Moripe Stadium in the first leg of their MTN8 semi-final, but former defender Japie Motale believes supporters need to get behind head coach Miguel Cardoso’s long-term vision.
Motale, who was with the Tshwane giants at the beginning of his career before moving to SuperSport United, says there is no better time than now for the Portuguese tactician to rebuild the team.
The former tough-tackling defender urged the Masandawana faithful to look beyond individual results and appreciate the bigger picture taking shape at Chloorkop.
“What Sundowns are going through, I can’t really say it’s a bad patch. What the coach is doing needs a bit of patience, that’s all,” Motale told KickOff.
“We are just too used to seeing Sundowns winning every weekend. Against Arrows, what we saw is the bigger vision of the Sundowns coach, judging by the team he fielded. If you check the contracts and the age of the Sundowns players who are playing regularly, you will realise that they are above 35, and they are remaining with one year. That’s why the coach is looking at young players right now,” he added.
Motale, who came through the Sundowns development ranks, understands better than most what it means for a youngster to be handed an opportunity at a club of this magnitude — and insists that competitive matches are the only true test.
“It’s transformation. I know nobody likes changes; the coach is looking at the future. The thing is, as a coach, you can’t try these youngsters in friendly games. You have to take risks in competitive matches for you to find out what these young boys are really bringing to the club. You need to test them in competitive matches,” Motale explained.
Motale drew parallels with Pitso Mosimane’s early days at Sundowns, pointing out that even the most successful era in the club’s history required a similar rebuilding process.
“It’s gonna be frustrating for the fans, but they need to understand that somewhere along the way, we were going to need to refresh the team. That’s one bullet you can’t dodge. For Pitso Mosimane to become successful at Sundowns, he had to refresh the team, and once the players settled, he never looked back,” he concluded.