1.Good day, Daniel, maybe before I should ask you about your training session, what does your normal day looks like?
Daniel Cardoso: Jaa look …We get here in the morning we have our meetings, we’ve got our video sessions, then we go for our warm ups, you know …obviously its tactical and all of that …going for a main session, preparing for the weekend’s games …so jaa that’s how our days look
2.How are you adapting to the new environment…
Daniel Cardoso: Jaa, ‘am adapting well… Look, the team is in Johannesburg and it’s a plus, but playing in another environment, being away from home and all of that is a bit challenging … but Jaa it’s been good they’ve been welcoming …my teammates are good, my staff are good and we get along pretty well
3.With one game left before the FIFA break, how do you reflect on the 2022/23 DSTV Premiership season campaign as a whole so far?
Daniel Cardoso: Look its being up and down, obviously in the first half of the season we didn’t get the best results and we got one and two wins here and there …and when Mr. Brandon Truter took over we’ve picked up more positive results …. we just need to start to be more consistence, I think winning two and losing two is not the best for us to jump positions because as you can see the league is very close at the moment anything from 14 up until …. i think its seven or six… one win or two wins it come up back to the top position, one or two losses and your back down to tenth or eleven position.
4. Talking about the league how do you feel about your personal form ,taking into consideration that your enjoying regular games as one of the team leaders
Daniel Cardoso: Jaa look I think I’ve being pretty solid, one or two games with a lack of concentration, but also it’s a team sports, it’s not an individual sports … if ‘am having bad game ,someone lifts me ..if someone is having a bad game ,we are there to lifts each other …and you know ,if it was an individual sport it was going to be different, like if you’re playing tennis that’s all I knew …but thanks goodness football is a team sport ,so to us to catch a regular game time… it’s been a decent one for me …I mean …i got to say I don’t like sitting out. especially when its game time, even if we ‘are playing friendly games, I like being on the field.
5. you’ve just mentioned that football is about uplifting each other, As one of the leaders in the team how do you motivate the youngsters to remain focus in their game
Daniel Cardoso: Jaa look… it’s a tough one in terms of that, because you still got to focus on your own game …,you try to be there as much as you can for the youngsters ,you try to guide them as much as you can …give them advice as much as you can …but sometimes you know they don’t take it as they should ….they think you’re there to take their spot ,especially me being an older player ,and still playing ,a lot of the players think am there to take their spot ,when am actually trying to guide them through their career .
6. Eish I don’t know if the next question that am going to ask you is going to get me in trouble or its going to be a bit controversial …you’re also well known for demanding professionalism amongst your teammates, to this end are you satisfied with commitment and professionalism shown by your teammates
Daniel Cardoso: Look I think it’s being very decent here in terms of professionalism, they have been one or two incidents, but they’ve being rectified, …I think a lot of players knows that ‘am a straightforward person, and they know that if they step out of tone or heading into the wrong direction it’s something that I will confront them …, I think it’s being very decent we haven’t had any big incident in terms of that.
7.Talking about Nedbank Cup, what is your feeling on the team fortune in the Nedbank Cup
Daniel Cardoso: We have a good run now …. Mhh….we played two lower division teams. I think our next game is against Chippa …and it’s a real test …am not disrespecting teams in the lower division but I think, when you know you have to come up to a stronger team you try …like we better ourselves in terms of mentality because is not the easiest as playing the lower division teams because your standard drops ..and I got to give credit to the guys, because the two previous Nedbank Cup fixtures we went out and show that we are PSL material and I think …mhhh.. going into these quarterfinals it will be nice for us to get another victory there and make history further for the team.
8.Sekhukhune United is back in action on Saturday and we will be up against Chippa United, the very same team that we will be playing against in the Nedbank Cup, how are the preparation going to this end and how are you going to approach this forthcoming game?
Daniel Cardoso: Jaa …the preparations has been going well, we had three very intense days of training …. And on the last day we go more into tactical and we will approach the game a bit more serious…. … it’s been a bit of a work load in the past few days, so I think it’s been good ,..the camp is positive ..we need positive results ,because we lost two previous league games ..and I think for us to stay in that top 8 and with the rest of the pack ,we need to definitely win this weekend , as if we lose …..and the bottom teams lost we will start climbing up the table and that’s what we want .
9.Do you mind if we can talk about our national team Bafana Bafana If yes …. They will be playing against Liberia what is the importance of Bafana to qualifying for AFCON .
Daniel Cardoso: Jaa look I think is very important for them to qualify because we fail to qualify for the last one and with the caliber of players that we have in our country, if you look at Sundowns…. I mean they’re competing against the best in Africa…So I don’t see why we shouldn’t be competing, we should be at every tournament, we should qualify for the World Cups, we’re competing at the highest club level ,what’s stopping us from competing at international level …most international teams have players in Europe and it doesn’t mean that we’re behind ..you know it’s very important as a country as a whole and for our football aspect otherwise European countries don’t take us serious in terms of picking youngsters and players to go and play in Europe .
10.After the training session what do you normally do, when you get home
Daniel Cardoso: ‘am going to fetch my son from school …from there am going home to do homework with him… after there …I get busy at my Academy …my day doesn’t end until 7 o’clock at night and then I can have some family time.
Thank you so much for your time, Danny ….
Daniel Cardoso: Thanks to you ..
