Benni ahead of Sundowns clash: ‘AmaZulu had a difficult pre-season’

Benni McCarthy has bemoaned a "disruptive" pre-season in which his AmaZulu squad was ravaged with injuries and depleted by Covid-19 infections.

The coach, however, said he hopes to have all his troops available for Friday night's DStv Premiership opener against champions Mamelodi Sundowns. 

McCarthy said he missed more than 10 players he could have used after AmaZulu bombed out of the MTN8 with a defeat at home against Cape Town City in Durban on Sunday in their first match of the 2021-22 season.

Usuthu will open their Premiership campaign with a confrontation against four-time successive champions Sundowns at Loftus, and McCarthy said he hopes to have a full-strength squad to choose from for the trip to Tshwane.

“It is not an easy game away from home against Sundowns, but we can prepare ourselves very well,” McCarthy said after a 2-1 MTN8 quarter-final defeat to Eric Tinkler’s City.

“I think this week for me it is going to be just to see if we will be able to get our players registered in time and ready for the Sundowns game because it was crucial players who I was not able to make use of [against City].

“We had 11 players who tested positive for Covid-19 [ahead of the match against City] so they were self-isolating.

“They will be back at training and we will have everyone available but these guys have lost 10 days after having to isolate. From Monday to Thursday they had to get themselves at a decent level so we can compete against the league champions.

“That would be a challenge but at least it will just be nice to have everyone back and a full squad to choose from.”

McCarthy said AmaZulu took a lot out of them in their defeat to City in a game that came on the back of two matches played in a space of three hours in the KwaZulu-Natal Premiers Cup on August 8. He said they were lucky they did not have to go to extra time in the MTN8 quarterfinal.

“We wanted to avoid extra time because we played in the Premiers Cup, which I think was quite hectic on the guys, and we did not have the best week leading up to this game with all the injuries and stuff we have picked up, and now missing 10-plus players for today’s match [against City].

“We wanted to avoid extra time and penalties and we wanted to just go for the game.”

McCarthy has promised that AmaZulu, who finished as runners-up to Sundowns last season, will press opponents high this campaign. However, the unsettling pre-season will make it difficult for Usuthu to immediately meet the high demands on players that come with the high press, he said.

“When you play a high press you have to have a fit team for it. You have to have a team that understands how the press goes and where to set the traps.

“You have to have that and at the moment we are a little bit off the pace because we have had such a disruptive pre-season.

“We did not have the best of pre-seasons but we will work ourselves towards there and see where we are at.”