BENNI McCarthy got Mzansi in a frenzy after he was appointed striker coach for Manchester United’s first team. No one saw it coming, and the news reverberated throughout Europe and the world — and South Africa. The announcement was in similar vein to the ground-breaking news when Pitso Mosimane was appointed by Egyptian giants Al Ahly in 2020.
The fact of the matter is that South African coaches are on an upward trajectory – and McCarthy and Mosimane are at the forefront. Mosimane was one of the first to congratulate McCarthy, and said that the move will open European doors for African coaches.
“Benni in the 18 area! Breaking boundaries for all of us in SA. We wish him well because it will open doors for us. Galagasha,” Mosimane tweeted.
Mosimane has been the pioneer for black coaches in SA since he started carving a path with SuperSport United in the early 2000s. He grew when he worked with World Cup winner Carlos Alberto Parreira at Bafana Bafana for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in Mzansi.
Mosimane then took over from Parreira. But he was still naïve and learning the ropes. He was fired, and Gordon Igesund took over. Mosimane then found his way to Sundowns, and that’s where he came out of his shell and showed South Africans how to build from scratch and dominate the local football landscape.
He won the CAF Champions League with the Brazilians and the whole continent started noticing – and it was no mistake when Al Ahly boss Mahmoud “Bibo” El Khatib came calling and offered the former Jomo Cosmos attacking midfielder a contract of about R50-million.
This week it was McCarthy’s turn to shine and bask in glory.
McCarthy is arguably South Africa’s best export, and is still Bafana’s leading goalscorer, 10 years after he retired from international football. He was by far a better player than Mosimane and played for top clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam, Blackburn Rovers and FC Porto where he won the Uefa Champions League, the only South African to do so. He was a goalscoring machine for Bafana and won accolades in his salad days for the national team. McCarthy did some sterling work as coach of Cape Town City and AmaZulu in the PSL. He is not scared of anything and will be energised now that he is entering murky waters where there are only a handful of black coaches. In more than 30 years of the English Premiership, only a few black coaches such as Patrick Vieira, Nuno Espirito Santo, Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince come to mind – when one in four Premier League players is black.
The narrative has certainly changed in SA. Local black coaches have raised their hands and are keeping out the European plumbers who would come into the country and take their chances for a quick buck. Imagine the scenario in the near future if Bafana could have both McCarthy and Mosimane as co-coaches. McCarthy would bring his chutzpah, that win-it-all mentality and Mosimane his technical and tactical acumen and maybe, just maybe Bafana will be able to get out of the World Cup group stages and reach the quarterfinals. If only…
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