Sundowns’ stability hinges on consistency, says Cardoso

The Brazilians have made a mixed start to the 2026/27 campaign, with three wins, a draw and a defeat across their opening matches in all competitions. 

Sundowns now turn their attention to AmaZulu in a Betway Premiership fixture at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday, before returning to the MTN8 at the weekend.

Cardoso says the real test will be whether Sundowns can make several changes to the team without losing their effectiveness. 

"Nuno has to be much better and Brian has to go up a lot, Teboho has to come on the team and bring his quality, there are still a lot of things to appear again on the team. It's important that we understand that rotation also has to happen in a few players but stability will come from having those players that can give consistently so we need to continue to produce results, we cannot wait too long for the players to perform so it's important they understand that,” Cardoso said.

“We are trying to do our best together so that we can find that stability. Let's hope injuries don't stay permanently around us."

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Sundowns have built a reputation for dominating the domestic league and have enjoyed considerable success in African competition, but their record in domestic cup tournaments has been less consistent. 

The MTN8, Carling Knockout and Nedbank Cup have all proved difficult competitions for the club in recent seasons.

Ahead of Sunday’s opening leg against Golden Arrows, Cardoso says he challenged his players to approach the match with the same intensity and seriousness they would bring to a CAF Champions League encounter. 

"There's something missing from us, it's really not finals but big victories in domestic cups. I heard someone say we have not won but we won one championship in that season we were not able to win any cup and last year we also didn't win any cup in South Africa,” the coach added. 

“So, obviously in the first season we just played one of them because when we arrived the other two had already been played by the club. It's a minus obviously, I want to put cups on my CV in South Africa and we still can but to make this one we need to leave the spirit of the Champions League"