Miguel Cardoso calmly reveals his method to decipher Espérance!

Mamelodi Sundowns coach, Miguel Cardoso, shared his tactical strategy that enabled his team to qualify for the semi-finals of the African Champions League this season, thus eliminating Espérance Sportive de Tunis, his former team.

The Portuguese tactician's players managed to hold Espérance to a goalless draw in the match played yesterday at the Stade Hamadi Agrebi in Rades. This performance allowed Sundowns to qualify for the last four, following their 1-0 victory in the first leg.

Cardoso stops Espérance and prepares to face Al Ahly

Regarding his elimination of Espérance and Sundowns' qualification to the semi-final, Cardoso said after the match: “We tried to reduce the threat of Youcef Belaili, who represents 60% of Espérance's offensive strength, and we succeeded in this task.”

He added: “Certainly, Belaili is not alone in attack, but he is the most dangerous. Despite this, the team has other talented players capable of making a difference.”

He continued: “What we sought to accomplish was to play a quarter-final of the Champions League against a very strong team. Last year, we achieved good results against Espérance, and this year we hope to repeat this success with Mamelodi Sundowns, who have shown faith in me and my technical staff. That's life.”

When asked if he would consider returning to coach Espérance one day, the 52-year-old coach replied: “I have a lot of respect for Espérance, its supporters, the city, and Tunisia as a whole. I do my job and try to show this respect as much as possible, with my assistant Fabio. And why not return here one day?”

The African dream slips away again!

With this disappointing elimination, the dream of the “Bab Souika” team to clinch a fifth African Champions League title has once again slipped away. The Tunisian club continues its streak of failures, not having won the trophy since 2019, thus failing for the sixth consecutive year in its quest for continental glory.

Read also: CAF Champions League: top scorers ranking!

Mohamed Rek |

Editorfr, ar, en

Mohamed Rek- sports content writer with over 10 years of experience creating football content in Arabic and French for platforms such as Foot Africa and Starafrica, combining accuracy, creativity, and audience engagement.