In celebration of Benni McCarthy's birthday, we look at his memorable moments from the touchline during his coaching stints at Cape Town City and AmaZulu.
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The story
South Africa's record all-time goal scorer, Benni McCarthy celebrates his 47th birthday today, a special day for the Bafana Bafana legend that allows fans to reminisce over his incredible goals both on home and European soil.
After an incredible playing career that saw him ply his trade for Ajax Amsterdam, FC Porto, Blackburn Rovers and Orlando Pirates, Benni is now making an impact on the touchline as a coach.
During his first head coaching roles with Cape Town City and AmaZulu, from 2016 till 2021, McCarthy had a series of outbursts and spats ranging from agreements with opposition coaches to lashing out at players.
Benni's heated moments
One of Benni's funniest outbursts came in Cape Town City's 2-0 win over Ajax Cape Town at the DHL Stadium in 2017. The Bafana legend had reacted angrily to Isaac Nhlapo, who fouled Teko Modise close to the City bench.
Video clips of the incident have gone viral on social media, with fans online clearly making out that Benni used a classic South African insult to cuss out Nhlapo.
Happy Birthday to the son of the cape flats soil, Benni McCarthy! ????
— Sahil Ebrahim (@sahil_e_) November 12, 2024
"You musn't push!" ?? IYKYK pic.twitter.com/P0QnLiCuQJ
The touchline cussing didn't end there for Benni, who famously had a war of words with then SuperSport United head coach, Kaitano Tembo during a league game in 2021.
"You have lost every bit of respect I had for you. That is why you are always broke," McCarthy shouted in reaction to his former teammate having a go at him during Usuthu goalless draw in Durban against Matsatsantsa.
"Your career – Seven Stars, Ajax – no, listen, you wanna get deep, I'll get deep with you. You call me a c***!?" Benni was heard saying in retaliation to Tembo's words.
AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy reacts to the club facing TP Mazembe in the #CAFCL. He also revealed what led to the verbal altercation with Kaitano Tembo "I was told to 'shut up you F...cing c***. That is the ultimate disrespect" The #UltimateSportShowhttps://t.co/mhCfA03TQs pic.twitter.com/g1tai0394k
— Thomas Mlambo (@thomasmlambo) September 21, 2021
Read: Benni Shares Special Moment With Boks
Back to his days at Cape Town City, this time in 2019 when Benni was involved in some touchline fracas that delayed the end of Cape Town City's 3-2 victory over Maritzburg United at the Athlone Stadium.
After initially helping to defuse the touchline confrontation between one of his assistants and the Maritzburg United bench, Benni was seen joining the commotion in the tunnel after the game, where a brawl broke out.
What was happening here? #BlowByBlow pic.twitter.com/N98inFaEpl
— the_admiral (@Ofentse_Ratsie) February 26, 2019
Here's another classic moment from Benni's days at Usuthu, where he told celebrating Nyasa Big Bullets player to "shut up" during his post-match interview, after his side lost at Moses Mabhida Stadium, to their Malawian opponents in the CAF Champions League preliminary rounds:
