Where was Benni when SA needed him?

Here we go again: another Benni McCarthy comeback. I think by now football fans must have had their fill of this occurrence. It is oh so stale, so yesterday's news, so amateurish.

I am trying very hard to figure out coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and preempt exactly what he has in mind for a Bafana Bafana team currently stuttering towards the 2010 World Cup.

Parreira's a wily old fox, though, and I just keep losing the scent at times when it looks like there's some sort of synergy in what he says and does.

Who can forget that emotional speech before the ill-fated African Nations Cup qualifier with Zambia at Newlands when Parreira hailed midfielders Papi Zothswane and Siyabonga Nkosi as the "heart and soul" of the Bafana team?

We lapped it all up because the team had come off a "creditable" 1-0 loss, if there is such a thing, to Scotland and the duo had an outstanding outing.

As things turned out, Nkosi did not even make the starting line-up and the luckless Zotshwane suffered the ultimate embarrassment of being substituted way before the break as the Zambians ran our national team ragged.

In the same match, McCarthy was rated as a super star and earmarked by the coach to play mostly in and around the opposition box. The Blackburn Rovers striker scored a consolation goal but, due to the coach's lone-striker strategy, he never got to enjoy much game time in the danger zone.

Like Zothswane and Nkosi, McCarthy was nowhere to be found when Parreira's charges left for their unhappy stint at the Africa Nations Cup in Ghana.

If there was an arrangement in place between player and coach, the nation should have been informed, if only to take the heat off McCarthy, whose patriotism is forever being questioned.

Now he is back for the Paraguay match on March 26, and this time was welcomed by the coach's assurance that "Benni is a wonderful player".

Why then was he not in Ghana when his country needed him?

Strange, too, is Parreira's style of trying out players in isolation rather than in tandem or in units.

His recent comment that he saw star player Sibusiso Zuma in Ghana and now wanted to see Benni against Paraguay confirms this point, for why not afford his two most experience players valuable game time against decent opponents for a change?

Then came the coach's rather strange explanation that teenager Kermit Erasmus of SuperSport United did not make it on to the field in Tuesday's shambles of a friendly international against Zimbabwe because they were drawing and not winning at the time.

He said the brilliant striker would have made his debut had the referee added a minute or two after Bafana had sneaked a last-minute winner.

What nonsense. The coach himself has in the past reminded all how unimportant the result is as long as he gets to look at his trialists.

Time is running out to unveil the 2010 team, so the sooner Parreira starts to select from the gut, the better. That, of course, is only the start of his dream to knock the boys into the desired shape.

The pressure is immense, because the one thing we don't want to see is South Africa earning the dubious distinction of being the first host country to bomb out after the first round of matches.

It's just so frustrating if you happen to be a Bafana watcher and all you want is to see the 2010 team take some sort of shape.

Let's hope for success against Paraguay, if not in the result, then by way of team building.

If not, Bafana might eventually lose more than just their heart and soul.

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