After leading AmaZulu to a 1-0 win over Golden Arrows on Saturday that took them top of the DStv Premiership table, a proud Benni McCarthy is hoping his former team Orlando Pirates can do them a favour tomorrow against Mamelodi Sundowns.
McCarthy took over in December, and AmaZulu were as low as 13th before he sat on the bench, however they have raced up the table with the former Bafana Bafana striker in charge.
McCarthy is delighted with his players have performed this season, and is hoping that can keep their form going.
“Happy for the players, happy for the team, happy for AmaZulu, and we march on,” McCarthy told the club’s media department after the game.
“We are number one! After the whole season Sundowns have been top of the log. And now finally, a team has come from 13th place to do the impossible, and we’ve gone right up the table and we are number one, whether it’s only for one day.”
“But it’s a nice feeling, you know, rewarding for the players, for all their hard work, and their determination and their drive and their willingness and having the winning mentality just like their coach.”
“So I think it’s sweet. And I’m super, super proud. I even love these guys, you know, that’s how proud I am of them.”
McCarthy knows though that Sundowns could return to the top spot if they beat Pirates tomorrow, and the former Pirates player jokes that it would be nice if his former team can do AmaZulu a favour and beat the defending champions.
“And now we’ll see how the magic unfolds tomorrow, I’m hoping Orlando Pirates and Sundowns provide a very good game. And I’m saying nothing. I’m just, I’m just putting it out there…”
“So ja, we’ll see what happens tomorrow. And we hope it becomes interesting, you know, that in the year that we’ve had with COVID, and all that, and the new DStv Premier League, all the excitement it provides, you want it to go to the last game of the season, so I hope that Pirates do the country and everyone a favour by doing what they should be doing, they can’t be hammered three times in a row by one team, so I’m backing my boys in black, hopefully, they come through for us.”
“And then we take it all the way down to the wire, with Sundowns, because that’s what the fans need, because they’re not allowed to come to the stadiums. So if they can’t be here, let’s give them something to to really sit on the edge of the seat until the last month of the season.”
