Benni McCarthy has lauded his Cape Town City side for their will to win in the MTN8 final against SuperSport United at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The Citizens bossed proceedings from the onset in Durban, but were let down by their wastefulness in front of goal with striker Siphelele Mthembu guilty of missing the easiest of tap-ins in the first stanza.
Bafana Bafana’s all-time top scorer admits to losing faith his team’s ability to secure the result, citing the events that transpired in the 2017 version of the tournament where SuperSport goalkeeper Ronwen Williams stood tall to ensure that Matsatsantsa were crowned champions.
VIDEO: @CapeTownCityFC coach @bennimccarthy17 says that @SuperSportFC were comfortable in taking the #MTN8Final to penalties. pic.twitter.com/2vfynQPG27
— TFGSoccerClub (@TFGSoccerClub) September 30, 2018
‘I saw this picture in my head. Again complete dominance,’ he said in post-match comments.
‘Utter dominance from my time, but we just couldn’t get it past Ronwen and it looked like we are heading for exactly what happened last season.
‘But the good thing is, this season we have a quality keeper who specialises in these things … compared to last season where we didn’t have a man in the sticks to give us that advantage.
‘I think these boys, I can go to the end of the earth with them. They will give me a heart attack soon. But they deserve it. They were magnificent.
‘I wanted them to be brave, to believe in themselves. I see their qualities every day. I wanted them to believe in themselves and when it becomes difficult or impossible, that’s when I wanted them to just push through the pain barriers and find that inner-self where they can play through the pain and it’s exactly what happened,’ he concluded.
VIDEO: @CapeTownCityFC coach @bennimccarthy17 says that is team deserved to win #MTN8 title. pic.twitter.com/8FBnN5UDi5
— TFGSoccerClub (@TFGSoccerClub) September 30, 2018
City’s next assignment sees them resume action in the Absa Premiership when they face former league champions Bidvest Wits on Tuesday evening at the Cape Town Stadium with kick-off set for 7:30pm.