The Citizens face off against Mamelodi Sundowns in their Nedbank Cup quarter-final showdown on Sunday afternoon, with Mosimane seemingly taking a swipe at McCarthy on Wednesday, claiming City’s relative success since their inception was based on the work done by Muhsin Ertugral at Mpumalanga Black Aces, which McCarthy merely inherited.
McCarthy has now responded to the claim, and naturally disagrees.
“The club was one year old when I arrived here, so whatever success they had was nothing to do with me,” he said. “I’m looking to build something for myself … so yes, I did inherit a good team, whether it was Muhsin or Eric [Tinkler], but if you look at the players in my team, how many did Eric use in his team? And how can Muhsin say he used? So it’s tit for tat, he says this, I say that.”
The City coach acknowledged Mosimane could be using mind games to throw him off ahead of Sunday’s clash, and could not help but have a jab at his rival himself.
“I was coached by [Jose] Mourinho, so mind games for me … good luck!” he said. “Come Sunday, that’s when I talk. I think I’m a bit more experienced and not that naïve in the game to be bothered by mind games and who’s success it is. But I think Sundowns was successful before Pitso was there – Johan Neeskens, I’m just saying. But it’s all good, it’s part of football.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the players – they must go out there and perform, and grab all the highlights and glory, not myself or Pitso or any of the coaches – it’s all about the players.”
Kick-off at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday is set for 15h00.