Benni, Pitso cut from same cloth
Both polarising figures who shoot from the hip
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane and his Cape Town City counterpart Benni McCarthy have more in common than maybe both would admit.
Perhaps one could go as far as to say that McCarthy is the younger version of Mosimane. Both became head coaches in their late 30s – Mosimane was 38 when he took over at SuperSport United in 2001 and McCarthy was 39 when he was hired at Cape Town City at the beginning of this season.
As footballers, they both played in Europe and were national team players with Bafana Bafana. But while their paths have been somewhat comparable, it is their mercurial personas that binds them more than anything else.
Both are polarising figures who divide opinion between those who love them and those who cannot stand them. They wear their hearts on their sleeves – notorious straight-talkers who shoot from the hip.
Not in as many words, but Mosimane did suggest that McCarthy is a lot like him. “You see coaches talking one way and their teams going the other way. I like Benni’s talk because he says ‘it’s my time, my space, I want to do it’,” Mosimane reflected. “Probably, John Comitis might not like what Benni is saying but he speaks his mind.”
When Sundowns face City in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal on Sunday (3pm), it will be the third time the teams meet this season. They exchanged 1-0 wins in the league.
McCarthy said: “Pitso has set the bar high for coaching in the country and he is by far the best we have. As a young coach he is one of the people you look up to [and] say ‘Hey, I also want to be on that level’.”