We are opening doors — Benni
Young coaches ‘will get a chance now’
Cape Town City mentor Benni McCarthy is delighted the technical team’s sleepless and “annoying” nights have paid off with their MTN8 success.
“For myself, I don’t really look at it for me, I think it was a collective effort – players and the coaching staff: my assistant coach Vasili Manousakis, [second assistant] Ryan Jacobs, my fitness coach, goalkeeper coach, [physio] Marc [Christian] and everybody,” said McCarthy, whose side beat SuperSport United 4-1 on penalties at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday night.
“We are constantly on the phone thinking, ‘coach, maybe we forgot this or that’ and it becomes annoying that we are texting at 11pm or 12am that maybe this could work at training tomorrow.
“We are a bunch of young guys and we are working tirelessly, McCarthy said. “I think for all of us it opens up the door for young coaches. I’ve come in and many people said, ‘you got to pay your dues first and you got to be five or 10 years in the job before you even get close to winning a cup’.”
McCarthy, 40, also had some words of comfort for his counterpart, Kaitano Tembo, who was on the losing side.
“It’ll haunt the coach for a little bit, but I think he can come back stronger because he’s got great players. So he must just keep going.
“I’ve been in that situation and I could have put my head down and said, that’s it. I went back and I fought.”
Tembo, in response, admitted his charges were outplayed on the night.
“I think they were the better team in terms of possession, although it wasn’t really quality possession, but we couldn’t really get a hold of the ball for longer periods,” said the 48-year-old, who is in his first few months as head coach of Matsatsantsa.