AmaZulu head coach Benni McCarthy says they’ll take the underdog tag in Friday’s CAF Champions League tie against TP Mazembe, but says they have a few things up their sleeve.
McCarthy says that they respect the history of five-time winners TP Mazembe in the competition, but AmaZulu know that if they want to reach the group stages, they need to get past the DRC giants.
McCarthy says the team are starting to feel like their old selves, and he wants them not to fear anyone they play.
“Ja, of course, I think if you look at the two histories, as much as AmaZulu is one of the oldest teams in the PSL, but the history that we have compared to TP Mazembe is absolutely nothing,” he said at the pre-match press conference.
“But modern day football is no more based on your history, you got to go out there on the pitch and deliver.
“So as much as we the underdogs, but I think we have all the confidence, we have all the belief in ourselves that we can do it.
“We here, because we deserve to be here, we’re not here because somebody handed us the opportunity to play in the CAF Champions League against TP Mazembe.
“So we’ll take the title of being the underdogs because of the history that the teams have, so ja, we definitely the underdog, but tomorrow, we will see what the underdog will have up their sleeve.
“And for us, it’s about TP Mazembe a standing in the way of us wanting to play in the CAF Champions League group stages. And ja, we know we have to get past a really tricky opposition, a very good opposition, to reach the group stages and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
McCarthy also insisted that he doesn’t care about the status of the opposition and wants his players to do the same on the pitch.
“When you have me as a coach, I never used to give two monkey’s about anyone, no matter your status, or where you from or what you have, I think I’m equally or maybe even better than you,” he added.
“So that’s the kind of belief that I put in my players as well. We respect what you’ve done, maybe in the past, but in the present it means absolutely nothing, if I can have a chance of 90 minutes to compete against you, and I know my strengths, and I know how far am I willing to go to compete against my opponent, then I have the full confidence in myself that I can do it.
“So that’s what my team has, at the moment, because we’ve got that belief back that we had last season.”
