Mind your words, City boss tells Benni
Coach should be watchful ahead of MTN8 final
Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy has been told by the club to watch his tempter as they head into the MTN8 final.
City will need the former Porto and West Ham United striker to keep his temper in check ahead of the cup final against SuperSport United at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday (7pm).
The two-year-old club will be looking for their second major trophy after winning the Telkom Knockout on debut last season.
McCarthy was seen mouthing profanities at Ajax Cape Town players during their Mother City derby last week. On the touchline of the pitch, McCarthy was captured uttering F-bombs and “Jou ma se p#@$”.
“He needs to be mindful that there are cameras and must select his words more carefully. We do not condone swearing. A game like that [the derby] can get heated but next time he should be more watchful,” City boss John Comitis told Sowetan.
The Citizens are run by an admittedly brand-conscious management led by Comitis’ son Michel and they would not want to bring their image into disrepute.
The 39-year-old rookie coach will be up against his once sworn enemy Eric Tinkler, with whom he had a public bust-up in 2012.
McCarthy was a striker at Orlando Pirates, while Tinkler was an assistant coach at Bidvest Wits to Roger de Sa when insults where exchanged between the three.
As the final showdown draws closer, Comitis feels both teams are evenly matched and the winning side will win by a narrow margin.
“The final will be more smash-and-grab. We got off to a great start and right now we are looking to stabilise the squad and have more consistency,” Comitis said.
“You can see that the team is maturing. At the beginning of the season we were worried about the stability because of the situation with Lebogang Manyama and Aubrey Ngoma who wanted to leave.”