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Benni McCarthy set to ignore call-up

South African striker Benni McCarthy makes a spectacular attempt on goal during an English Premier League soccer match at Ewood Park, Blackburn, last month. PHOTO: AP

Controversial South Africa striker Benni McCarthy is set to ignore a call-up for a Nations Cup qualifier next month.

National coach Carlos Alberto Parreira included the Blackburn Rovers star in a 19-man squad for a Group 11 clash with Chad on June 2.

But McCarthy told a Johannesburg radio station he would not play until South African Football Association (Safa) official Mohamed Mubarak publicly apologized for comments made after last year's Nations Cup in Egypt.

Mubarak accused McCarthy of triggering a pay row amid a dismal showing by Bafana Bafana (The Boys), who lost to Guinea, Tunisia and Zambia and made a humiliating first round exit.

McCarthy said in an interview with Metro FM: "Apparently I told the players they should ask for more money and I was the cause of South Africa not qualifying for the second round."

"l am not coming back to the same problems I have every year. Safa know what these problems are and they have to sort them out," McCarthy warned.

"It kills me because I want to play for my country. I want to be the record scorer for Bafana Bafana. But until it's sorted out ..." he said.

Parreira said after naming the squad that he considered McCarthy one of the best strikers in Europe and hoped the player and the association could make peace.

McCarthy, second highest scorer in the recently completed English Premiership campaign, has a long-running love-hate relationship with the national team.

He has often shunned call-ups since bursting on to the international scene in 1998, citing club commitments, personal problems or disputes with Safa.
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