“When you have the entire group training, it means that the level of the training is higher,” Cardoso explained.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has welcomed the rare luxury of having a full week to prepare for the titanic Betway Premiership clash against Orlando Pirates at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Brazilians have long been used to a demanding schedule, playing almost every four days over the past few seasons.
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With their place in the CAF Champions League group stages now secured, focus has shifted to the mouth-watering league encounter against the Buccaneers in Tshwane.
Cardoso expressed his satisfaction at finally having more time for training at Chloorkop, something he believes will significantly boost the quality of their preparations for a match against one of their strongest domestic rivals.
“I don’t remember working on a full week cycle in a long time. I think it was only at the beginning of the season that we had a full week between the first match against Richards Bay and the Premiership match,” Cardoso explained.
“We had the availability of all the players, and all of our players were present so that we could train with the entire group. Sometimes people don’t understand, and I want to make it clear.
“When you have the entire group training, it means that the level of the training is higher because all the players with the highest qualities are there and that raises the level of the training sessions [even] higher.”
Mo time to rest for Sundowns
The Portuguese coach acknowledged the challenge of maintaining high standards when juggling multiple competitions, noting that limited recovery time often affects their ability to hold high-level training sessions.
Sundowns will face TS Galaxy after the Pirates encounter, before heading into another FIFA international break next month.
“It’s not the same, for example, when we play a friendly match. Imagine that you have players that didn’t play today, and we call up players from the Diski team to have a joint training session,” he continued.
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“It’s not the same because the level of the boys is not the same so the level of the session drops. Having the possibility to train the whole group allows you to work on all the dynamics and also brings high quality in all the sessions. It’s from there where the [team] development happens.”
