Benni McCarthy wants AmaZulu to play like treble-winning Orlando Pirates

AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy aims to transform his team to play like the Orlando Pirates side that won the double-treble when he was a Buccaneers player.

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Since taking charge at Usuthu, McCarthy has the team playing an exciting brand of football. The KwaZulu-Natal side has lost only one home match under his guidance.

McCarthy, with his experience of playing at Orlando Pirates where he won the treble in the 2011/12 season and helped make Orlando Stadium a fortress, believes AmaZulu have what it takes to make it hard for any visiting team.

“I can see the desire to get to that level. We are far from that yet, we are far from that, it’s a work-in-progress,” Benni McCarthy said.

“Like I said, the team you talk about there [Pirates] were some crazy characters, we were united, a lot of time was spent together for us to have built that sort of relationship, when we knew that was a fortress.

“That teams would come and celebrate like they won the league when they got a draw against us at Orlando Stadium, and that’s what we are trying to work towards building at AmaZulu.”

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Benni McCarthy, who played 80 matches for Bafana Bafana, scoring 31 goals, said that having some of his players unsettled because of the transfer window has meant it has taken longer for Usuthu to find consistency.

“It’s not easy because obviously with the transfer window now and players are unsettled and players are not sure who is leaving and who is going to go, if the coach is happy with me… so there’s a lot of things that are sort of like breaking the mould a little for us to achieve that,” he added.

“But we are on a good path and good road to achieve that, but it’s going to take a lot more you know for us to really get there to make our home ground advantage count massively and make this ground a fortress where teams won’t want to play AmaZulu at home.

“We are a team that can do anything, we can also grind results, so it will take some time but that is our ultimate goal, that we make our home a fortress.”

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AmaZulu are currently seventh in the standings.

They are next in action on Tuesday, 2 February when they host 12th-place side Bloemfontein Celtic at Kings Park.

Kick-off is at 15:00.