Benni fired up for new PSL season
New signings have strengthened City
Benni McCarthy feels Cape Town City can be contenders for honours in the Absa Premiership this season after expressing satisfaction with his new signings and pre-season preparations.
City kick off their league campaign with a home game against SuperSport United at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday that the 40-year-old coach says they must win to get off on the right foot.
“I’m optimistic. The new faces that we have in the team‚ they have come in and made us real contenders now,” McCarthy. “I’ve got a very balanced squad and two or three players for every position. That is a luxury to be in as a coach.
City’s new players include Dutch goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh from Ajax Amsterdam‚ impressive Ivorian defender Kouassi Kouadja‚ Siphelele Mthembu from Free State Stars and Riyaad Norodien‚ who joins from Orlando Pirates.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves‚ we are a very good side and we play compact football. We play very nicely on the ball‚ we have worked throughout the whole pre-season to be more composed on the ball.
“Matthew [Rusike] looks like a new player‚ he is full of energy and wants to get going. Shaka Zulu [Siphelele Mthembu] has come in and brought a completely different dimension to us.
“We can play‚ but now we’ve also got an outlet‚ a striker who can hold the ball up nicely for us.”
McCarthy’s maiden season saw the club reach the MTN8 final but they ultimately finished without a trophy‚ something the coach wants to fix.
“For me‚ and my staff‚ we don’t want to come here every single day and not have the mentality that we want to win cups. If we don’t have that then we might as well go home.
“You work because you want to win. We want to win every game and that means every competition you are in‚ you want to try and go all the way.”