Is Benni McCarthy a threat to the PSL?

Benni ”in the 18 area” McCarthy, the only South African with a UEFA Champions League gold medal has returned home and is playing for the Buccaneers-Orlando Pirates.

Now this is a player who has been travelling all around Europe, playing in some of the best team teams in the world and has achieved so much in his international period. He still stands as the top goal scorer for the national team and is one of the South Africa’s best and most prosperous exports in 12 years.

With his credentials he has the experience that 90% of the Premier Soccer League players have not even sniffed, and is now playing in S.A. where this league is still developing.

He is now playing for Orlando Pirates and to the rest of the PSL teams, does he pose a threat? Well the answer is yes and maybe no?

Yes, because he has the experience that most players don’t have and he has played against the best. I believe weather he is so called “un-fit” he still has the ability to score goals, and I believe he will because Pirates is the kind of team that need accurate goal scorers.

 If you take some time to look at some of the goals he has scored in the past, you would see that he has done some damage against the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. And what stops him from doing more damage to the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Sundown’s or even Super Sport United.

If its the question of being slow you’re asking, then maybe you should think about the likes of AC Milans Filippo Inzaghi, Roma’s Frencsco Totti or even our Golden Arrows Collins Mbesuma who may not the most fastest  players but make a mark in putting the ball in the back on the net, so what’s stopping Benni

If we had to say he is not a threat, what would be the reasons justifying that? No he is not a threat because he might actually be a weakness that teams might thrive on. I mean whether you where the greatest soccer player or not, age tends to catch up with you.

Just because you scored goals when you where 20 doesn’t mean you can if you’re 30. All I’m saying is teams may gain some momentum knowing that Benni is on the field, and they might capitalize on that. Whether he has the experience it’s all in his head, and may not be in his legs. And everyone knows you need to your legs to play the game, does he really still have it.

The truth is Benni is back, and he has proved himself on his debut Match this passed weekend against Black Leopards by scoring. And though you might think it was a “flook” it wasn’t, because Benni is a striker and he has the strikers instinct, so it’s his job to score.

The questions still remains, will he keep it up for the whole season? We’ll just have to wait and see.

By Oratile Matlapeng