City face off against The Brazilians in the only Nedbank Cup quarter-final set for Sunday, a date both clubs were not pleased about due to the fact that they have league encounters scheduled for Wednesday, and that the fixture falls on the Christian holiday of Easter Sunday.
And McCarthy admits he feels a bit hard-done-by.
“The games are coming thick and fast, and God knows why we are playing on Sunday, and everyone else gets to play on Saturday,” he said. “We can’t go too much into those kinds of things … we have to accept it, and then on Wednesday gear up again for Golden Arrows.
“I’m a church-goer, so for me, Easter Sunday I should be in church, but now I have to focus on playing a football match, and not be able to go to church. I do believe strongly that Sunday is for church, and that’s my religion. It’s going to church that got me the opportunity I got in football, so I don’t want to mess with that. But if other people think this is how it should be done, then it’s fine … we can’t argue about it, we will go do our job.”
Despite this, McCarthy is anticipating a good game of football, and following Pitso Mosimane’s sending off the last time the two clubs squared off in the league, he hopes both coaches will remain on the field this time around.
“I’m hoping for a good game of football, with good referees and that both coaches get to stay on the pitch for a change!” he joked. “There’s a lot of mouth-watering things to look forward to, but once we get those fundamentals out the way, it will make for a good quarter-final clash.”