Now we’ll show you
Football’s penchant for quirky twists of irony was revealed in all its spectacle as Cape Town City defeated Bidvest Wits 2-1 on the day and 3-1 on aggregate, to march to the final of the MTN8 yesterday afternoon. Back in 1995, when then-Seven Stars coach Gavin Hunt gave a 17-year-old Benni McCarthy a break in professional football, he couldn’t have foreseen how 22 years later the teenager would return and get the better of him as a coach. But that is exactly what has transpired.
During those intervening 22 years, Hunt established himself as one of the PSL’s leading coaches, winning the league title on four occasions (three with SuperSport United and one with current club Wits), while McCarthy strode the football fields of Europe with great success as a striker. Now McCarthy, in his first spell as a head coach at City, has had to face his mentor Hunt on three occasions over the last few weeks – in the league and the cup – and he’s emerged victorious every time. The pupil has certainly outwitted the master.
For this new club City, though, what a time of it they’ve had. Formed just 15 months ago as a PSL club, they’ve caught the imagination of the football public, both on and off the field. Last season, the Cape side won the Telkom Knockout Cup and ended the season in third position. And they’ve continued in the same vein in this campaign, utilising their magnificent team ethic, solid defensive organisation and supreme tactical discipline to qualify for yet another cup final.
To add to that delicious sense of irony, it now makes for a really intriguing and mouth-watering climax to the competition. McCarthy’s City will meet Eric Tinkler’s SuperSport United and that alone should add extra spice to the final. Tinkler was the coach responsible for City’s remarkable run last season, but he opted to move on to join the Pretoria club. There are many City fans who weren’t too happy with Tinkler’s decision to move on and, needless to say, from the terraces, there will be more than a whiff of “now we’ll show you” in the air.