Four days before the Telkom Knockout Cup final against Orlando Pirates, Bidvest Wits coach Roger de Sa insists they have no special plan to combat Benni McCarthy.
The former Bafana Bafana striker has been in great form for the Buccaneers, and produced a scintillating performance in this past weekend’s 3-0 defeat of log leaders SuperSport United.
But De Sa is confident his troops can deal with McCarthy, and Pirates as a whole, especially with inspirational defender Mbulelo Mabizela back in action.
“He [Mabizela] looks good; we will assess him again, but he had another session [yesterday afternoon] without feeling any pain, so it looks good,” De Sa told KickOff.com.
He added, “I don’t think we will do that [focus solely on Benni]. I think they have too many good players for us to worry about. We’ve to worry about the whole team and a few others on the bench as well.
“But he [Benni] does add something extra to the team; no doubt about that. I saw that against SuperSport, so we are aware of that, but we are going to need a massive team effort; it can’t be one player alone.”
De Sa also believes the pressure will be on Pirates to lift the trophy for their fans.
“There is always pressure on bigger teams; no doubt about that. The bigger clubs have the bigger salaries – I think Benni’s salary is probably half of that of my squad. No disrespect to him. I think he deserves it, but the pressure is on them; they are expected to win.
“We just have to go out there and have a good time and let the kids really express themselves.”