Benni McCarthy's quest to force his way back to the Bafana Bafana fold suffered a major setback when he got injured in Blackburn Rovers' 6-2 loss to Arsenal at the weekend.

McCarthy ambled onto the pitch in the 61st minute as a Blackburn substitute — took one free-kick that went wide and then limped off in the 68th minute injured.

Not entirely the credentials for a Bafana recall for the ageing enfant terrible of South African soccer for the coming week's games in Europe against Norway and Ireland, particulary as Blackburn on Tuesday revealed that McCarthy will now be out of all levels of soccer for two weeks — and maybe longer.

This did not prevent many from castigating embattled Bafana coach Joel Santana for not recalling McCarthy to his squad.

Not surprising because the hysterical lament in South African soccer right now is not to blame it on the bossa nova, but to lump everything from the missing of gilt-edged scoring opportunities to defensive blunders on the head of the hapless coach from Ipanema land.

And as Bafana prepared for their departure on Friday with bloodthirsty butchers sharpening their knives for Santana's demise, little-known , European-based Anele Ngconga withdrew from the squad because of a family bereavement and was replaced by Bloemfontein Celtic captain Thabo Nthethe.

Sapa

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