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JOHANNESBURG. — AmaZulu coach, Benni McCarthy, has criticised the criteria used by coach Hugo Broos to pick players for Bafana Bafana ahead of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
South Africa will open their campaign with a game against Zimbabwe, at the National Sports Stadium in Harare tomorrow, before they face Ghana at the FNB Stadium, on September 6.
McCarthy, who managed 79 caps for Bafana and scored 31 goals, believes Broos has made poor selections for the qualifiers. “We select players who are not even playing at club level. Some have not kicked a ball for their teams this season but they are selected to the national team and we expect to be successful,” McCarthy told the Citizen newspaper. “Other national teams have local players who play week-in week-out, they don’t sit on the bench.
“If the international players are not released, the local-based players should be good enough to carry on when other players are not available.
“As to how we select players, it sometimes boggles me because I see players who are there, based on what they did in the COSAFA Cup, and last season.
“Clubs feel that they pay big sums of money, to sign players, they (complain) about the long journeys because African players always have to take two flights, then they have to play, and when they go back, they arrive a day or two late, for a big match. “So, there will always be that reluctance from clubs to let their players go.” McCarthy called on SAFA to improve the relationship between national team coaches and coaches at the club level.
“Managers should have an open network where they are able to talk to each other and look at the importance of different games because, if there is no relationship between the national team coach and the club coaches, then you are always going to find that problem,” he said. “Sometimes, as a club coach, a player who is not playing in your team because he has a small injury and you don’t want to jeopardise the player’s career. — Goal.com
Online Reporter