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Parreira: Benni will be back
02/03/2007 12:29 - (SA)
Johannesburg - South African coach Carlos Alberto Parreira expects in-form star striker Benni McCarthy to end his long boycott of the national team after finding his feet in the English Premiership.
McCarthy, who has refused to play for Bafana since 2005, took his tally for new club Blackburn Rovers to 16 when he scored an outstanding winner against Arsenal in the FA Cup in midweek.
The Brazilian Parreira is well aware that the prospects of a turnaround in South African fortunes are heavily dependent on the 29-year-old McCarthy being enticed back into the fold.
"He has proved he is one of the best forwards we have and is scoring goals in England," Parreira said in an interview with The Star newspaper.
"I don't know about this coming game (against Chad), but we cannot say this boy is not available for the national team.
"All I know is that Benni wrote a letter saying he did not want to be considered while he established himself at Blackburn... I see him with the team in the future."
McCarthy, who has previously played for the Spanish outfit Celta Vigo and Dutch giants Ajax, joined Blackburn in the close-season from Portuguese club FC Porto.
He turned his back on the national team after voicing frustration at being made the scapegoat for disastrous performance at the 2005 African Nations Cup in Egypt, when South Africa was dumped out in the first round, and over the team's failure to qualify for the last World Cup in Germany.
South Africa, the hosts of the next World Cup in 2010, have had a grim time of late and have seen their world ranking drop to a lowly 59 behind African minnows such as Burkina Faso.
- AFP
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