AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy was infuriated by the state of refereeing in his side’s 1-0 defeat to Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup on Sunday.
Dean Hotto’s goal made the difference in the end as Pirates grinded out a win. The win was marred by controversy as some questionable decisions were made. One included not awarding AmaZulu a penalty when the ball appeared to have been handled by Goodman Mosele in the first half.
Usuthu had a penalty in the second half which was missed by Tapelo Xoki but McCarthy clearly feels that they should have been awarded more spot-kicks.
“Pirates took their chance that came to them and they scored. For us, you saw what we were about and if there was justice, we would be standing here with a different story. I counted three penalties and we only got one. It was a great game of football. We are a small team but on the pitch, we show a lot of heart and character. There are a lot of positives that we can take away and we can only get better,” said McCarthy.
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McCarthy continued to rue the state of the refereeing which has come under fire a few times this season.
“We were beaten by the man in the middle today, not by our opponents and I’m going to stick to that. Not that it’s because that’s my feeling and everyone else that loves and knows about football. We weren’t beaten by our opponents today,” said McCarthy.
Usuthu’s elimination from the Nedbank Cup means that the CAF Champions League is now their only realistic hope of silverware this season with Mamelodi Sundown sailing to a fifth consecutive league title.
AmaZulu’s next game is their first ever CAF Champions League group stage game as they travel to Morocco to play against Raja Casablanca at the Stade Mohammed V on Saturday.
Usuthu will travel to North Africa with the odds stacked against them, especially as Raja are reigning CAF Confederation Cup winners with plenty of continental experience under their belt.
In the league, AmaZulu finds itself in fifth position. However, the gap between them and second place Pirates is narrow and McCarthy will be backing his troops to potentially finish second domestically as they did last season.
Usuthu are set to start the second half of their league campaign with a fixture against struggling TS Galaxy later this month.
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