It’s David against Goliath
BENNI: DOWNS ARE GETTING BETTER
McCarthy’s City have two bites at the cherry.
Benni McCarthy subscribes to the age-old saying “if you want to be the best you need to beat the best”. The Cape Town City coach is preparing his team for a MTN8 semifinal against Pitso Mosimane’s Mamelodi Sundowns outfit, with the first of two legs on Saturday in the Mother City.
Although the Capetonians have given Downs a run for their money in recent league meetings, McCarthy is happy to be saddled with the underdogs tag, as he has dubbed Masandawana as Goliath and his side as David going into the clash at the Cape Town Stadium.
McCarthy has also warned that the Brazilians are no longer the same side as last season, as they have so far recruited a number of players.
“Last season and this season are two different animals. Sundowns have strengthened and everybody has seen that. Every day there are new players coming in and they are getting better and better.
“It will be a difficult encounter and they might be Goliath in this situation but I think at this moment we are not scared of anyone,” said McCarthy.
“If you want to be champions and you want to win titles, you have to beat the best teams in the competition and unfortunately for us the best team in our league is coming earlier than expected.
“Last season we had something similar. Bidvest Wits were in our way, we had no chance against Wits but we went past them and found ourselves in the final,” he added.
For City to repeat last season’s feat of reaching the final and go- ing one better by winning the MTN8, McCarthy says they need to make sure they take a positive result into the second leg, scheduled for September 2.
“We have to take it one game at a time and when Sundowns come, we will deal with it. We have two bites of the cherry, not just one. We have a home encounter which we’ll have to try and put ourselves in a respectable position to go to Sundowns and fight for whatever we have done at home.
“At home we are not a walk in the park for anybody, so it will be nice (to play them).”
Sundowns have strenghened and everybody has seen that.