Cape Town City into MTN8 final
FORGIVE Benni McCarthy for getting ahead of himself and thinking coaching is easy – the Cape Town City mentor is simply riding the wave.
The Mother City club made it five wins in a row here on Sunday afternoon when, for the third time this season, they brushed Wits aside in a tactical game that was killed off by striker Lehlohonolo Majoro’s secondhalf strike to guarantee passage to the final of the MTN8 against SuperSport United, who beat Maritzburg United in the other semifinal on Saturday night.
Wits, the reigning champions of both the MTN8 and the Premiership, have endured a horror start to the the 2017-18 season and have yet to register their first ‘normal time’ win. An they’d thought it would come here against a City side that was without captain Lebogang Manyama for the first time after he joined Turkish Super Lig outfit Konyaspor last week.
McCarthy doesn’t yet know what defeat tastes like since getting his first coaching job in top-flight football, and what probably makes it all the more sweet is the fact that three of the five wins have come against Wits, coached by Gavin Hunt, who handed McCarthy his professional debut as a young footballer back in 1995.
City arrived at this venue holding a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg that was played at the Cape Town Stadium.
They quickly gave it up when Robyn Johannes put the ball in his own net following a goalmouth mêlée in the 12th minute. Wits skipper Thulani Hlatshwayo had claimed the goal after it looked like he’d gotten a touch to push it over the line, but it was actually his counterpart Johannes who’d helped it over.
Determined to reach yet another final, having won the Telkom Knockout in December last year, coincidentally against SuperSport, City fought their way back into this encounter and forced an own goal from Wits striker Ahmed Gamal. The Egyptian’s poor attempt at clearing the ball from a long Ayanda Patosi free kick sailed over goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs to draw the visitors level before half-time.
But the form book probably always favoured McCarthy and his men, seeing that they are on a winning streak, while Hunt is struggling to get the Clever Boys going as they continue to suffer from a championship hangover.
Wits dominated in patches, particularly when young Kodisang Kobamelo had the ball and made himself a nuisance to the City defenders. But City took their chances when they came, like Majoro creating an opportunity to score out of nothing to putting the game to bed to all but confirm that McCarthy would be in his first cup final as coach.
You can’t blame the 2004 European Champions League winner for getting a little bit cocky.