A fired-up Benni McCarthy has not minced his words after AmaZulu’s 1-0 defeat to Orlando Pirates, criticising the referee heavily for his performance.
Usuthu missed the chance to secure second place on the DStv Premiership log after losing 1-0 to McCarthy’s former side.
Gabadinho Mhango scored the only goal of the game thanks to a brilliant free-kick, allowing Pirates to close in on AmaZulu.
“We got beaten by the referee, not by Orlando Pirates,” McCarthy said in a pitch-side interview with SuperSport’s Julia Stuart.
“Listen, if I’m under pressure about my job, you do anything, if my job is hanging by a thread. Losing is part of football. I’m not bitter, I can take losing, but to lose in that manner, not against the opponent but the man in the middle. What is this, is this a joke?
“It’s the first time I’ve seen this referee. How can the league also even consider, a game of this magnitude. A team that wants to finish second, who is behind you. No foot hold in the game.
“Not because we didn’t get the three points in the game. You know, the three points is gone. They take the game, they get the three points. They added to their points on the log.
“But in this fashion. We expect that the DStv Premier League must raise the standard. Teams are upping their games but the officiating is diabolical.
“They can’t say ‘coaches always complain’. Today was just a joke and I wasn’t gonna say anything because you get warnings, you get fines. But that’s fine. Today, I don’t care because now what do I say to my players?
“Because they didn’t lose the game to the opponent. They lost the game to people that, that besides… You play a clean game and you make sure you get the football you deserve. That’s why these teams are number two and they are number four.
“We wanna see good football but now the man in the middle spoils the game for everyone.
“But we know what we need to do. We’ve got two games left and they are still four points behind us.”
