CT City coach Benni McCarthy: Sundowns game is huge now

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Tuesday Mar 27, 2018. 12:00

Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy says his side’s Nedbank Cup match against Mamelodi Sundowns is “huge” and is hoping the Tshwane side will be distracted by other commitments.

City and Sundowns will meet in Cape Town for the last quarterfinal this coming Sunday, with the hosts focusing their efforts on winning the Nedbank Cup following their exit from the CAF Confederation Cup and a tailing off of their league form.

‘Downs, however, are leading the domestic championship and have progressed through to the group stage of the CAF Champions League, leaving Pitso Mosimane in a position where he is forced to rotate his squad to keep his players fresh.

“The Sundowns game is huge now,” McCarthy said of the upcoming quarterfinal, as quoted by Kick-Off.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity, as you’re just two games away from being in another final.

“It’s a chance to redeem ourselves, but yes, a very formidable opponent stands in our way – an opponent that’s easily as hungry for silverware, but we couldn’t have played them at a better time: they’ve shifted their attention to the CAF Champions League, and then with Pirates winning and reducing the deficit to just one point in the league, they know they have to win their league matches to stay ahead.

“So their priorities may have shifted more to the league than to the Nedbank Cup.”

The City coach added, “If they reach the final, all focus will be on that game, but up until they get there, they’ll probably go with the same like you saw against EC Bees [in the last 16 round], where EC Bees had a tremendous chance to hit them.

“But we ain’t EC bees … they’ll probably come with a stronger side. But I was just delighted when our name came out first – I didn’t really care who we faced. We’re at home and we not travelling.”