Posted in News on Dec 19, 2006.
In addition it was another winning day for him as Chiefs have remained unbeaten any time he has lead the team in a game. For Fabian these figures do not mean much as he insists that every time he has been given the duty of captain, he has had his teammates to thank for making the outing easy for him.
With the return of Cyril Nzama from injury, McCarthy could soon hand back the armband to Nzama. The prospect of Cyril returning to resume the captaincy is one that Fabian would welcome given the respect he has for Nzama.
With his fifth game as captain under his belt, Fabian shares his views on what was a special fifth game as captain as well as his aims and objectives for 2007.
KC.COM: Fabian, are you aware that Sunday’s game against Maritzburg United was the fifth league game that you have captained Chiefs in?
Fabian McCarthy: Really it did not cross my mind as I do not really count these things, but I do know that I am just deputizing at the moment and once Cyril Nzama is one hundred percent fit he will take back the armband.
KC.COM: Furthermore how do you feel about the fact that whenever you have been captain in a league game, the team has not lost a game?
FM: That is something that I cannot say I am proud of because I am not one to develop pride. It is nice to know that together with the rest of the team, whenever the responsibility has been given to me to lead the team, that the guys have come out and supported me and played the way they have in all five of these games and made my life as a captain easy.
KC.COM: This past Sunday, the win against Maritzburg was the most goals Chiefs have scored since you were at the club, even when the score was 2-1 and on you kept on rallying the guys. You also went over to Kaizer Junior a number of times and said something to him, let us in on what you were saying?
FM: The only thing I kept on telling them was not to let up and continue attacking, I said that we should not lose focus and continue getting forward and score as many goals as possible. What we did not want was to be 2-1 up and have Maritzburg equalize, we know what our capabilities are and we need to play to our strengths which I feel we did on Sunday.
When it comes to Kaizer Junior, after he got one goal and with the amount of space he was finding himself in, I kept on pushing him on to get his hat trick. I must add that he was full value of his three goals on Sunday and he really deserved to get those goals, he worked really hard and preserved and also gave credit to the guys who helped lay on the goals for him. That is a team player.
KC.COM: You are well aware of the fact that Wednesday’s game against Santos will be a tougher prospect, than Sundays game was?
FM: The thing is that you have to prepare well enough for every game and not fear any opponent as we showed in recent times. As we were on Sunday we need to create and score goals, we need to find the back of the net early and keep the pressure on the opposition.
We know Santos play a completely different game to Maritzburg and we have to be ready. Should we view ourselves as a championship winning team then we need to be prepared to face any team at any time.
KC.COM: Are you confident of keeping up your winning record as a captain on Wednesday evening?
FM: The first thing is I am not sure if I am playing on Wednesday so we need to start from there, the next thing is that Cyril is recovered from his injury and there is all the likelihood that he could resume his rightful position as the captain.
Lets move to the third option; if I am handed the leadership duties on Wednesday I am confident that we can be successful against Santos, not because of anything to do with me, but because of the mere fact that we have a good team with guys who are willing to do things for the benefit of the team.
Being the captain of such a team is a real honour for me and to be part of a team with such dedicated and committed guys adds to the honour.
