AmaZulu Head Coach and former Bafana Bafana star Benni McCarthy has given advice to those who were not selected for the national team in the latest squad named by Molefi Ntseki.
Bafana play Ghana and Sudan later this month and McCarthy, speaking after winning the PSL Coach of the month award, says while it is disappointing for some not to get selected, they need to keep their focus.
McCarthy says there are a number of players who could feel disappointed in not getting selected, but his advice is to knuckle down and work even harder.
“Yeah, most definitely, I think as a player it is disappointing when you know, you’re doing everything you can ,you playing your heart out, you’re giving your best, you’re working hard, and your form is picking up. And then there’s players who don’t play at the clubs and they get selected ahead of you,” McCarthy said during a digital presser this week.
“So yeah, of course there’s an element of this disappointment as a player, you know, but yeah, I am not the national team coach. So that is not a discussion for me to go in.”
“But I do feel for a lot of the players that I’ve been able to watch up close in the PSL where I think they done exceptionally well, your Thabo Nodadas, Mduduzi Mdantsane, I think he’s done exceptional for Cape Town City. And that’s a player that’s worthy of an opportunity. There’s a few players at Swallows, they’ve done really well. And I think some of the players could feel hard done by not being called up not, getting an opportunity. And then you have the likes of Taariq Fielies, at Cape Town City, central defender has been superb, and not in the squad.”
“So yeah, there’s, there’s a lot. Gift Links, I follow European football and he’s a player who plays at Aarhus, who is doing really well, he is playing in a European league. He’s playing at his club and playing well, scoring goals, but then you don’t get selected. But I’m not the national team coach.”
“That’s just my opinion. I love football. Football is my life. So I follow all South Africans abroad and at home. And I follow just world football in total. So when I know when players are doing well, then I know so when you don’t get selected, I can understand that you feel heartbroken and that you feel hard done by but you just have to continue working. You can’t be disappointed.”
“Because in life, everybody suffers disappointment. But it’s what you do after suffering disappointment. You don’t go and sulk, you don’t go and hide in a corner. You don’t go and cry like a little baby. You pick yourself up and you work harder. Next time you make sure that the coach don’t miss you. You continue to work hard until that coach, take note of you and he selects you. And if not, someone else will but at the end of the day, it’s all about you, you are the MVP.”
“You don’t have to seek approval from everybody else, as long as you work hard, that should be the biggest achievement that anybody can get. You work hard and your opportunity, your chance will come. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow. It might be in a week’s time or in a month’s time. But when hard work, you will get to your destination and what you want to achieve.”