“It’s not beautiful to put a man naked during the game, and that’s what happened to me,” Cardoso said.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has explained the bizarre scenes that saw him change his T-shirt on the touchline during the Betway Premiership clash against Orlando Pirates at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.
The Portuguese tactician was seen swapping his navy-blue T-shirt midway through the first half, as it reportedly clashed with Pirates’ all-black strip on the day.
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Cardoso revealed that referee Masixole Bambiso threatened to send him off if he did not change into a different colour.
“I was in dark blue and Pirates plays in black. It was clear that my colour disturbed the assistant referee on the other side. So, I was asked to change my T-shirt around the 25th minute,” he explained.
“I said to the referee that I will do it but I have to go out because I always have two or three Polo T-shirts. I expected that the bus would be closed because the driver was probably watching the match, then I asked if I could wait until half-time to change my T-shirt because I had a white one in my bag but it was in the bus, but the referee told me I needed to change or he would give me a red card.
“I ran inside because I was expecting to find something in the locker room but it was closed, so I came back running and I explained to the referee that I had no way of changing because the locker room was closed. He said, ‘you must change in one minute or I will give you a red card’.
“That was the moment I was naked on the pitch. I asked if I would receive a yellow card for being [half] naked on the pitch, and he said, ‘no, it’s my responsibility that you change here’. It’s not beautiful to put a man naked during the game, and that’s what happened to me.”
Cardoso admitted that the incident caused some discomfort for his family after images of him changing next to the bench went viral, with fans questioning why it happened in full view of the crowd.
“My family is still embarrassed because they were asking in Portugal why a coach appeared in a photo naked during a football game. My wife wasn’t happy, and my son asked what was happening. I think my situation was not beautiful,” Cardoso concluded.
“I put on the T-shirt of my assistant coach, who was sweating because he was part of the warm-up for the match, so I was very uncomfortable for 25 minutes with a T-shirt that was not my size, and thankfully, Fabio is a clean man.
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“At half-time I changed into a white Polo T-shirt and there was no issue with me and the referee, but I followed his instructions. I think it’s also your job to look between teams that wear black and how the coaches usually dress. You’ll see they usually dress in dark blue or black, and I don’t see why the reaction towards me was different.”