Benni McCarthy says AmaZulu know the tough challenge facing them as they start their maiden CAF Champions League Group stages by facing Raja Casablanca tonight.
AmaZulu have surprised many by not only qualifying for the CAF Champions League, by finishing second in the DStv Premiership last season, but by also qualifying for the group stages where they had to overcome DRC giants TP Mazembe.
McCarthy says they know the challenge facing them now, but says that while his team are making their debut, he believes that if they can play at their best, they can beat anyone on their day.
“First of all, we are very happy to be in Morocco and to contest our first match in the CAF Champions League, against one of Africa’s biggest and most respected teams in Raja Casablanca,” McCarthy said at the pre-match press conference.
“So ja, for us, the preparation has been very good, because what helped us in preparation for this match, and for the CAF Champions League was a very tough first match in our league against one of the iconic teams in South African football.
“So that was a very competitive game, but we did very well, played very well, even though the result didn’t go the way we wanted, we lost 1-0, but I think there was so many positives we could take from the match, and we can just build on preparing for this.
“But this, playing in CAF is a completely different ballgame, it is much tougher, much more competitive. And also you play against the best or the second best team in Morocco, who have high standards all over the pitch.
“They have quality players, experienced players who’s played in this competition numerous times. And they know what’s expected of them.
“But like I said, for AmaZulu, for us, it’s our first time and we want to make a name for ourselves. And we know in order to go as far as possible that we can, sometimes you have to beat the best teams.
“And for us, the challenge couldn’t have come any any tougher than Raja Casablanca. A fantastic team, very good coach. So ja, we know what we have to do, and we know, it’s going to be a very tough and difficult match.
“But we have good players and good quality, all around, and we know we can be competitive when needed to be.
“So ja, we just going to go out there, first of all, we want to enjoy ourselves, we want to enjoy the hard work that we’ve done by qualifying for the CAF Champions League.
“So first, we’re going to enjoy the moment, we’re going to embrace the opportunity to play against such a big team as Raja, but then we got be ourselves also, and when we are ourselves, we can be as good, or maybe even better than then the best team sometimes out there.
“So ja, that’s what we were going to do. We are going to give it everything we’ve got, and hopefully, it will be enough to see us overcome one of the most impossible, both teams that we have in our qualifications, but we are positive and and we are confident that we can contest and we can we can give a good spectacle of the football match.
“And we can give a good account of ourselves. So we’re going to make it very difficult for Raja come tomorrow night.”
