I ask myself every day what made me want to do this‚ says Benni McCarthy

He is widely regarded as one of the best players this country has ever produced and he is now carving a new career path as a football coach.

Benni McCarthy’s career as head coach is all of five games old but the man has shown enough in those matches to suggest that he could become as successful barking instructions on the touchline as he was on the pitch during his playing days.

But the early success has astounded the man himself and he says he does not know what possessed to him quit a comfortable career as a TV analyst and take the plunge into the highly stressful and unpredictable world of coaching.

“It (coaching) is still the most difficult job ever and I ask myself everyday what made me want to do this‚” he says candidly.

“I could have been enjoying myself as an analyst there at Supersport‚ chilled nice‚ 45 minutes first half and 45 minutes second half…….

“Here (in coaching) I am getting grey hairs and after every game my voice is gone‚ you know.”

Despite the stress that is such a central part of a coaching career‚ McCarthy hasn’t done too badly for himself and has managed to show up coaches who are far more experienced than the 39 year-old greenhorn.

City are second on the premiership table after wins over Bidvest Wits and Platinum Stars in the league‚ and over Platinum Stars and the selfsame Wits in the MTN8.

McCarthy will savour the wins over Wits the most as he managed to get the better of the man who gave him his professional debut as a pimply 16-year-old about 22 years ago.

McCarthy’s City beat Wits – the defending league champions - 1-0 in the opening match of the season in August and the upstarts repeated the trick over two legs (1-0 in Cape Town and 2-1 in Johannesburg) in the MTN8 semifinals.

So what is the secret of his success?

The City coach says he has no time for egos and even though he has several big names in his squad – Teko Modise‚ Ayanda Patosi‚ Aubrey Ngoma and Lehlohonolo Majoro‚ among others – they all play as a team and not as individuals.

The Cape Town side lost their best player‚ Lebo Manyama‚ to Turkish side Atiker Konyaspor last month and yet his absence was hardly noticeable when McCarthy’s charges took the more fancied Wits apart on Sunday.

“You must go play golf or tennis if you want to play as an individual‚" McCarthy says.

"Here‚ the individual praises that players get we accept.

“But here‚ it is 11 men on the pitch and seven guys on the bench plus the coaching staff.

“It’s a team effort and everyone pulls their weight and everyone pulls in the same direction. Here they know we do not have superstars

“There’s 24 superstars in our team plus coaching staff. So that’s how we look at this season you know.

“We don’t build our team based on individual quality and superstars.

"You come here‚ you come to be humble and you must be ready to work hard.”

City host limping Kaizer Chiefs at Cape Town Stadium in their next league match on Wednesday night and McCarthy says they will be ready for Komphela’s ailing side. - TimesLIVE