City change focus to Chiefs
Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy says he will give his players a well-deserved rest before they shift their focus to Kaizer Chiefs.
Cape Town City FC players celebrates during the MTN 8, semi final 2nd Leg match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Cape Town City FC at Lucas Moripe Stadium on September 02, 2018 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
City, who knocked Sundowns out of the MTN8 this past weekend, will play Chiefs next in the league on September 15.
Coach Benni McCarthy is happy that his side managed to reach the MTN8 final for the second time in two seasons.
“It was a tough one, I think the boys gave it their all,” a delighted City coach told SuperSport TV after the game.
“We were up against a resilient and strong Sundowns team. They probably had the better chances to kill it off, but when we went 1-0 down I said to the boys ‘we have nothing to lose, we keep on playing, we’ve been in these situations and we can overturn it’,” McCarthy recalled.
“We were just unfortunate not to get back into it, a tremendous run by Craig Martin and a tremendous save from Denis (Onyango) to prevent us from going 1-1. Then it’s a completely different game, justice in the end,” he added.
“Penalty shootouts are a lottery. From last season I know the headache of losing in the final. So, I feel for Pitso and his boys. They did enough to go through but unfortunately it was not meant to be,” he expressed.
“Now it’s the repeat of last year’s final. We’ve got an uphill battle, I have to give them a well-deserved rest and we focus on the next one against Kaizer Chiefs. Now we keep the final out of our minds and focus on our next league game against Chiefs,” he concluded.
