Don't judge me by trophies, says Cardoso

After his appointment as Mamelodi Sundowns' coach on Tuesday, Miguel Cardoso has asked not to be judged by the single trophy he has, but by how he will improve the team going forward.

Cardoso – who was Tunisian giants Esperance coach when they knocked out Sundowns from the CAF Champions League  in the semifinal last season, following a 2-0 aggregate win – replaced Manqoba Mngqithi, who was fired on Tuesday.

The Portuguese mentor's appointment has raised eyebrows as he  only has one league title in his career, which he won with Esperance last season, where he also guided them to the Champions League final  which they lost to Al Ahly.

"It is really interesting, this discussion, because we live in a society, and we live in a sport, where people judge the CV by the trophies. But sometimes they forget that to win not only [do] you need to be in the context where you can truly fight to win but also sometimes you are in a context where winning is not [just] getting trophies," Cardoso told the media on Tuesday.

"For example, I have four finals of big competition clubs and won zero. When you look at my CV, don't judge [me] because we lost those games, judge it because we won to arrive there. I waited for one-and-a-half-years without work because I know what society is [like]. Society judges you because of the trophy, so I wanted to enter the club where I could win ... and I entered.

"I succeeded and won and I'm the champion in Tunisia at the moment. The club was not in the position of winning at that moment; they were struggling even to get out of the group stage of the Champions League, and we made it because we believed and we prepared."

Cardoso, 52, said he was aware of the responsibilities and pressure he'd be facing at Sundowns, and is ready for the task ahead . "When you judge the coach, you must look at a lot of things, like how many players he develops. There are a lot of international players who are playing for the best teams in the world that I have developed in the previous clubs. That is also the work of the coach, and here is another level we need to win and that's what we are going to do."

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