"He deserves all the luck in the world. Not only is he a fantastic player but he is also a fantastic boy," Cardoso said.
Sphelele Mkhulise celebrates late winner with teammates during a Betway Premiership 2026/27 game against TS Galaxy at Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on 11 August 2026 © Jana Kotze/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso heaped praise on Sphelele Mkhulise after his late brace sealed a dramatic 3-2 win over TS Galaxy in a Betway Premiership clash at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night.
The pint-sized midfielder has been used sparingly by Cardoso during his time in charge of the Brazilians, but he delivered arguably his best performance in a Sundowns jersey in a long time against The Rockets.
The 30-year-old came on for Gomolemo Kekana after the hour mark, with the score tied at 1-1. Galaxy took the lead with 13 minutes remaining and looked set to claim yet another famous victory.
However, Mkhulise popped up with two late goals as Sundowns snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a five-goal thriller on a cold night in Mpumalanga.
“It was beautiful to see Pitso (Mkhulise) score two goals coming from the bench,” Cardoso said.
“He deserves all the luck in the world. Not only is he a fantastic player but he is also a fantastic boy. Today I even carried him on my shoulders in front of the supporters.
“It was to make him understand that we love him. He carried us during the match and we carried him in the end to salute him and I’m so proud.”
Cardoso is encouraged by the positive start to their league campaign after Sundowns narrowly lost the title to Orlando Pirates last season.
“It’s our intention to fight the best as we can and have the maximum commitment possible for this league,” he added.
“It’s not because we lost it (league) before but it’s our ambition to dominate South African football, so we have to do it because of the history of the club.”
The win over Galaxy came days after Masandawana knocked Polokwane City out of the MTN8 quarter-finals after extra-time, where they needed a late goal to seal another 3-2 win.
Although Cardoso is happy with his team’s spirit following back-to-back wins in their first two matches, he wants to tighten up at the back after conceding four goals in two matches.
“Unfortunately, in the last two games we conceded two goals from two shots. It’s not something that makes me happy and we have to correct it as a group and as a team,” the Portuguese coach concluded.
“We have to reduce the number of goals because we’re also not going to score three every time. When you concede two goals, you also have a high risk of losing points.
“We cannot lose points regularly because it will become a problem but at the moment, two games and two victories, so we need to get the energy from there and grow the victories.”
