Benni McCarthy, alongside sports journalist Mark Gleason, who is also the co-writer of his book titled BENNI, which was launched at Cavendish Square.
Image: Wesley Ford
BENNI McCARTHY is no politician, but Bafana Bafana’s all-time leading scorer is so saddened by what’s going on in the world he wishes the upcoming FIFA World Cup was not going to be hosted in the United States of America.
“It’s a big concern because as much as you meant to look forward to the World Cup, but you also can't exclude what is happening. A lot of people - innocent people, kids and, children - are losing their lives in unnecessary wars, you know. So it is hard,” McCarthy, the man who scored South Africa’s first ever goal at the global showpiece when Bafana Bafana made their debut at France 98.
Asked about his views on what is happening with the war between Iran and the USA that has affected other parts of the world, McCarthy was unwilling to tie himself.
“Oh God, that's not my department. It's just hard when lives are lost and then people are thinking about doing the best and feeling ‘oh the World Cup is 100 days, 98 days away’ and looking forward to the travelling with all that’s going on. That is tough and I think FIFA really need to have a hard look at themselves and see how they can make things a bit easier.”
He believes the football spectacle would have been better served played elsewhere.
“They should have taken a different destination to host the World Cup because there's just too many things going on in the US and in Mexico as well now with the cartels and that,” McCarthy said during an interview on the periphery of the launch of his self-titled book – BENNI.
“So, it's a lot of things and you wonder how safe the fans and the teams are going to be with the World Cup coming up soon and you have all this trouble hitting before it starts.
It irks him that powerful men – presidents of countries – just don’t seem to care about lives.
“For me, the biggest thing is if we can put an end to the war because innocent people's lives are getting risked or we're losing innocent people, you know, over what? Over power? It makes no sense. We should be focusing and celebrating what's coming (the World Cup) and not fighting and killing and making the world an unsafe place for people to be. So, yeah, that's my stance really.”