Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy has withdrawn from the South Africa squad for their upcoming friendly games.
This has caused speculation as to whether McCarthy will feature in future Bafana Bafana games as Blackburn Rovers had given him clearance to join up with the squad. McCarthy picked up a hamstring injury at the weekend playing for Rovers but the player himself said he was feeling a lot of pain and decided to pull out.
South Africa coach Joel Santana said his players would be chosen according to their attitude as well as their skill.
“The player’s club Blackburn Rovers found that the hamstring was normal and that the club had no objection for McCarthy to travel,” a statement from the South Africa FA said.
“There was a phone conversation between Benni and the team Doctor following up on the report received from his club’s medical team, but Benni insisted that he feels tremendous pain,” the statement said.
We are still going to make a decision on the names to be sent to FIFA, but our selection is not based only on how good a player is, but also on the correct attitude” Santana said.
South Africa, the World Cup 2010 hosts are due to play Norway in Rustenburg this Saturday and Portugal in Lausanne, Switzerland next Tuesday.
