McCarthy slams players after AmaZulu Champions League loss

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Benni McCarthy attacked his side’s lack of desire after they slipped to a 1-0 home defeat against Malawi’s Nyasa Big Bullet’s in their Caf Champions League preliminary qualifying first leg on Friday.

ALSO READ: AmaZulu pay price for missed chances in defeat to Nyasa Bullets

The result leave’s Usuthu, who are making a first ever appearance in continental competition, hanging by a thread in terms of their chances of making the Champions League group stages.

“It was not a great start to our Caf adventure,” said McCarthy after Nickson Nyasulu’s 27^th minute strike was enough to give the side from Blantyre the victory.

“As much as it looked like we dominated the game, we were nowhere close to our best. When you play the way we do and you don’t have the desire to score, you don’t give yourself a chance.

“We didn’t do enough to win … it was difficult to watch and accept what is happening, when you create the chances we did and fail to score. Maybe if you speak to the players … they can give you a better indication of what happened. But I think it was a horror show for me to watch especially the lack of desire that we showed out there.

“Now we have to go to the jungle, to a very difficult place, and overturn losing at home. To win away in Africa, not many teams do that, now we are asking that of ourselves,” added the AmaZulu head coach, whose side will face SuperSport in the DStv Premiership on Tuesday, before the trip to Malawi to play the 2^nd leg against Big Bullets next Saturday.

McCarthy also appeared to take a dig at the AmaZulu board in saying he knew he needed a top class striker heading into this season.

“More than frustrating to me is that this was the area I had the biggest concern, there were a number of targets I wanted to strengthen the squad with someone who wanted to score … you can see the way we have started the season (this is what we needed) I am now challenging the players to want to score goals. We play some nice football but if you play good football and keep losing games it doesn’t benefit you.”