Zürcher Nachrichten - Sundowns must adapt to less possession, warns coach Cardoso

The Pretoria outfit are outsiders in Group F with Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund expected to advance to the knockout phase in the United States at the expense of Sundowns and South Korean side Ulsan.

"We are used to controlling matches in the South African league," the 53-year-old Portuguese said of a club that recently won the national championship an eighth consecutive time.

"Our possession can be 70 percent, sometimes even more," he told the South African media before departing for North America with a 26-strong squad.

"Now we must prepare mentally to adapt to situations where our opponents will have the majority of possession. I doubt we will be able to control games like we regularly do in South Africa."

Cardoso picked out Dortmund as a team to present a different type of challenge from the opposition Sundowns are used to at home and in Africa.

"Dortmund play a very high tempo, aggressive style, which is typical of German football," said the coach, who has worked in Portugal, Ukraine, France, Spain and Greece.

Cardoso moved to Africa in 2024, winning the Tunisian title with Esperance and taking them to the CAF Champions League final, which they lost to Al Ahly of Egypt.

Sundowns, Ahly, Esperance and Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca, who have won 20 continental Champions League titles between them, are the African representatives at the revamped 32-team Club World Cup from June 14.

Sacked by Esperance last year following indifferent domestic form, the Portuguese was hired by Sundowns after they axed local coach Manqoba Mngqithi having lost to minnows Magesi in a knockout competition final.

- 'Our Lionel Messi' -

Cardoso took Sundowns to the league title, but a surprise FA Cup semi-final loss to Kaizer Chiefs dashed hopes of a South African double.

An even bigger disappointment came in the Champions League, where Sundowns eliminated Esperance and Ahly only to lose the final to Pyramids, an Egyptian club competing for only the second time.

"The belief that African clubs lack organisation, especially when defending, is untrue," insists Cardoso.

But it was a series of defensive blunders against Pyramids in Pretoria and Cairo that cost Sundowns a chance to win the Champions League a second time after their 2016 triumph.

Slack marking allowed Pyramids to snatch an added-time equaliser in South Africa, and a weak clearance and more poor marking led to the goals that gave the Egyptians a 2-1 second-leg victory.

Cardoso has chosen a squad including 20 South Africans, two Brazilians, a Chilean, a Ugandan, a Zimbabwean and a Namibian.

Reserve goalkeeper Denis Onyango from Uganda is the oldest at 40 and South African winger Kutlwano Letlhaku the youngest at 19.

First choice shot stopper Ronwen Williams saved four penalties in a 2024 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final shootout against Cape Verde.

Khuliso Mudau is a polished full-back, Teboho Mokoena an aggressive midfielder with a powerful shot and Brazilian forward Lucas Ribeiro won the South African league's Golden Boot last season with 16 goals.

But a lot of South African attention at the Club World Cup will centre on a midfielder who did not feature in the Champions League title decider, 35-year-old Themba Zwane.

Former Sundowns star Joel Masilela was furious at the exclusion of Zwane.

"He is our Lionel Messi and should have started or come off the bench," Masilela said.

"Cardoso cost us a Champions League title."

H.Roth--NZN