Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy says he feels for Pitso Mosimane after eliminating Mamelodi Sundowns from the MTN8 competition on Sunday.
The Citizens advanced to the final for the second successive campaign after claiming a 4-2 win on penalties over the Brazilians.
READ: City edge Sundowns on penalties to book MTN8 final spot
The Mother City-based outfit will now take on SuperSport United in the final of the top-eight competition in a repeat of last year’s final, which Matsatsantsa won on penalties.
McCarthy says he was delighted to see his side come out victorious at the expense of Sundowns, but shows his sympathy towards Mosimane, who is yet to add the MTN8 to his trophy cabinet.
‘It was a tough one, I think the boys gave it their all. 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 [before] and we can overturn it”,’ McCarthy told SuperSport TV after the match.
Highlights: Mamelodi Sundowns vs Cape Town City
‘We were just unfortunate not to get back into it, a tremendous run by Craig Martin and an [equally] tremendous save from Denis [Onyango] to prevent us from going 1-1. Then it’s a completely different game, justice in the end.
‘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.’
The 40-year-old coach says he will give his side a rest before they take on Kaizer Chiefs after the international break.
‘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.