Benni McCarthy

Benedict Saul McCarthy, known as Benni McCarthy, born 12 November 1977 in Cape Town, South Africa is a professional footballer, currently playing for Portuguese side FC Porto and the South Africa national football team.

Road to Amsterdam

Playing for Seven Stars, the 18-year old McCarthy scored 27 goals in 29 games in the 1995/96 season, followed by another 12 goals in 20 matches, which earned him a transfer to Ajax Amsterdam farm team Ajax Cape Town. In 1997, he finally joined the Dutch side, where he scored 9 goals and was crowned champion. After a also successful 1998/99 season he was sold to Spanish side Celta Vigo for a sum reported to be over €6M, at the time the most expensive transfer for a South African player.

Spain

Altough regarded as one of the best African players of the moment, McCarthy never established himself as a regular choice for Celtas' manager, Víctor Fernández. After two poor seasons, in the 2001-02 season he was loaned to struggling FC Porto where he would meet newly appointed coach José Mourinho, and a team more near the off-europe places than the championship race, but before turning into a regular choice he would have to play in the 2002 African Nations Cup. He was the main force behind Porto's recovery to get a third place which would take them to the UEFA Cup, and scored an impressive 12 goals on only 10 matches, but Porto's finances did not allowed to keep the player, despite the desire of both sides to continue.

In 2002-03 he did no better than be an optional striker, while seeing Porto capture both the title, cup and the UEFA Cup he helped the team qualify for. As former teammate Hélder Postiga was sold to England, Porto had the funds to actually sign the South African for a €3.5 M sum.

Porto

At his return, he did not only found the highest club morale in years, but also a highly organized team with some of the best Portuguese players. Altough he managed to grab the golden boot award (with 20 goals in 23 games) at the final day with a terrific hat-trick which included an overhead kick that was considered one of the best 2004 goals by Eurosport, he made his mark on the Champions League, where he played a major part in the matches against Manchester United – not only he scored both goals in the Estádio do Dragão european debut, but also the free kick that Tim Howard fluked to Costinha, who would score a last-minutes equaliser that knocked the english giant outside the competition. Porto ended up being the unlikely winners of one of the most surprising runs of the competition, with none of the favourites reaching the final four.
As Mourinho left and was (shortly) replaced by Italian coach Luigi Del Neri, McCarthy thought of leaving for the Premier League, but the two years left in his contract remained a problem. When the Italian was fired and replaced by his former Celta coach Fernandez (who he said he'd rather quit playing than be coached again) he tried to pressure Porto to sell him to Everton F.C., who had sold Wayne Rooney to Manchester United and needed a replacement. Porto refused, and the tension between both seemingly vanished as Fernandez praised McCarthy as a world class striker. He would be crucial again as he scored the victory goal against former team mates and manager now in Chelsea F.C. in the qualifying stage of the Champions League. With his goal, Porto became second in the group; even a draw would place Porto in the final position.

National Team

The 1998 Football World Cup in France was the debut of South Africa's national football team, and McCarthy (then on Ajax) was presented as one of the key players. After a no-chance 3–0 loss against future World Champions France, South Africa played their second game agains Denmark. Trailing since the 13^th minute, McCarthy tied the game 1–1 at the passage of the 52^nd minute, scoring the first goal of the South African national team on a final stage and giving a chance for qualification. However, the third game also resulted on a draw (against Saudi Arabia), which left the South Africans in third place and outside the competition.

In the Korea/Japan World Cup he saw history repeating. After a 2-goal draw against Paraguay, followed by a 1–0 win over the Slovenians, in the last game against Spain his 30^th minute equalizer was not enough, and the 2–3 defeat meant another third place in the group stage.

Altough there was much conflict over his participation in national team matches (whose interests often collide with the clubs'), and actually left after the 2002 World Cup, he returned to the national team in 2004.