Benni McCarthy Pirates links

Benni McCarthy. Photo: Backpagepix

BREAKING: AmaZulu to part ways with Benni McCarthy – report

AmaZulu are reportedly set to part ways with coach Benni McCarthy in what would be a shock decision on the local football scene.

Benni McCarthy Pirates links

Benni McCarthy. Photo: Backpagepix

As it stands, Benni McCarthy’s AmaZulu are dwindling down in ninth place in the DStv Premiership, having managed just five wins from 23 games.

Although the team has impressed at times in the Caf Champions League, the performances in the PSL have been poles apart from the 2020-21 season when AmaZulu finished in a remarkable second place. The season prior to that, Usuthu had been been perched precariously in the relegation zone, but Zungu and McCarthy combined to reverse the team’s fortunes.

LATEST: CONTROVERSIAL KAIZER CHIEFS CASE HEADING TO THE HIGH COURT!

It hasn’t all gone according to plan this season, though, with AmaZulu in fact without a win in 2022, and president Sandile Zungu recently said he is ‘not happy’ over how the team has underperformed in the DSTV Premiership.

Now, according to iDiski Times, a source has confirmed that the “club decided to part ways with McCarthy”. When contacted by iDiski Times, McCarthy stated that he was called into a meeting with the club’s leadership.

“I think our performance this season, especially in the local campaign, has been way below what is expected from AmaZulu. We are not entirely happy about that,” Zungu recently told TimesLIVE.

“But our campaign in the Caf Champions League has been very impressive until recently when we lost two games (in a row to ES Setif of Algeria and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca).

“But we were not playing against minnows, we were playing against former champions who know what they are doing. So we are quite satisfied with our performance as it was our first entry into the Caf Champions League. We will live to fight another day.

“We have seven games to get back into the top four because I really believe AmaZulu are a top (four) team. That’s what I want and if I can’t get that, then there will be accountability,” Zungu said.

Benni McCarthy’s AmaZulu are next in PSL action when they travel to face Baroka on 6 April

Meanwhile, earlier this week, SuperSport CEO Stanley Matthews offered support to McCarthy and said he could reach similar heights achieved by Pitso Mosimane.

“Maybe now you could look at Benni, with his track record in playing and access to personalities and intellectual capital he has on a direct basis, whether it’s a Jose Mourinho, he’s put himself in a bracket where he can become a special coach,” Matthews said.

“Without the international exposure, flavour and modern trends, without spending time with the best practitioners in the game, who are in Europe right now, if you don’t do that then you can’t get to the level that Pitso is.”

VIDEO: BENNI MCCARTHY CAN BECOME A ‘SPECIAL COACH’ LIKE PITSO MOSIMANE