iafrica.com's Khaya Ndubane considers whether the continuous snubbing of Benni McCarthy means Bafana Bafana’s leading all-time goal-scorer’s international career has finally come to an end.

Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana made his intentions clear on the Benni McCarthy issue when he snubbed the striker ahead of the Confederations Cup showpiece in June, but many still McCarthy would make a return to the Bafana fold because "South Africa does not a proven goal-scorer".

And with McCarthy pledging to play for his country at the World Cup in 2010, many believed that his 'patriotism' would persuade Santana to include him in his squad, but that is clearly not the case.

The question on everyone's mind is whether Santana will go into the World Cup without McCarthy, and judging from Santana's recent selections, the answer is abundantly clear.

The McCarthy situation at Blackburn Rovers is not helping matters either. The Bafana star spends more time on the sidelines than he does on the pitch, and this past weekend, McCarthy did not even make the bench for Blackburn's 0-0 draw against West Ham United at Ewood Park! So, with Santana saying he will select players doing well for their clubs, McCarthy will be lucky to make it back to Bafana.

But, with South Africa’s inexperienced strikers continuing to fire blanks, and Santana failing to honour his word of selecting in-form by persevering with bench-warmers like Rowen Fernandez, Elrio van Heerden and captain Aaron Mokoena, there is still a glimmer of hope...

But Benni would do well to remember the case of Nasief Morris. The Bafana defender, who played all but one match in the Spanish La Liga, came late to the Bafana camp ahead of the Confed Cup and was dropped from the squad. And Morris has never found his way back into favour.

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