AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy reckons their Nedbank Cup first-round defeat to Orlando Pirates on Sunday helped them to prepare for this weekend’s CAF Champions League clash against Raja Casablanca in Morocco (Saturday, 9pm SA time).

Pirates dumped AmaZulu out of the Nedbank Cup after winning 1-0, courtesy of Deon Hotto’s goal at Orlando Stadium. Despite the defeat, McCarthy was upbeat about how his charges applied themselves, feeling the game aided them to get ready for Raja.

“My players shouldn’t feel hard done by after today’s result because we were giants [on Sunday]. This game was very important for us to gauge our readiness for Raja. I can say it helped us to prepare for the Champions League,’’ said McCarthy.

“There are a lot of lessons we picked up from this game that we’ll use going forward. One of those lessons is that we must improve in terms of converting chances. I can take a lot of motivations from this game because we were supposedly playing a big team in the country and what we did today is testament of the hard work and how far we’ve come along.”

The Usuthu mentor also sounded content about their two new recruits in utility defender Abbubaker Mobara and lanky striker Abraham Majok, who hails from South Sudan. McCarthy is adamant his squad can now hold their own, though noting going pound-for-pound with dominant Mamelodi Sundowns will still be a challenge.

“The players that we added, Mobara and Majok… you saw today the movement, the quality and the freedom he [Majok] plays with. So, yes I think we have a decent squad. It’s a competitive squad,’’ noted McCarthy.

“We will be okay. I won’t say we’ll be pushing Sundowns for honours in the league but we will definitely be able to hold our own and we will be competitive in the Champions League.’’