/ 9 March 2007

Benni poised for superstar status

Benni McCarthy, the boy from the backstreets of Cape Town, is the toast of English football this week after two dramatic interventions changed the face of the game.

Expect more of the same on Sunday at Ewood Park, where he should fire Blackburn Rovers into the FA Cup semifinals.

His scintillating winner for Rovers in their FA Cup fifth-round replay against Arsenal at Ewood Park last Wednesday sent the Gunners into crisis.

His two penalties against Bolton last Sunday sent Sam Allardyce into apoplexy.

But it was the FA Cup winner that really put Benedict Saul McCarthy on to the back pages. With three minutes to play against the mighty Gunners, he picked up a pass from David Dunn, beat the hapless Philippe Senderos and lashed the only goal of the night past Manuel Almunia into the Arsenal goal.

Rovers boss Mark Hughes can take the credit for it, though. He left McCarthy on the bench because he didn’t want to travel to Highbury for the first tie, which ended 0-0 at the Emirates Stadium 10 days before.

Benched for the 3-0 win against Portsmouth, McCarthy, never far from controversy, was raring to prove his manager wrong when he was sent on steaming in the 63rd minute. This was the boy who, at 18, scored 37 goals in 29 games for a little club called Seven Stars in Cape Town, South Africa, during the 1995/96 season. That form stirred a move to Cape Town Spurs, who merged with Seven Stars to form Ajax Cape Town.

Then McCarthy moved to Amsterdam and the senior Ajax team, where he scored nine times. A sideways move to Celta Vigo followed, plus a rejuvenating spell with Porto before McCarthy, born on November 12 1977, finally got his dream and moved to the Premiership with Rovers for £2,5-million after years of rumours linking him to Aston Villa.

McCarthy said after his FA Cup winner: ”The gaffer said he was going to give me some rest. I thought maybe Portsmouth, and maybe I’ll be back against Arsenal, but he felt he couldn’t change a winning team. I can’t blame him for that.

”The lads did well so far and, when you get your chance, you’ve just got to show it. You never know when you will get the chance, so when you get it, you’ve got to be ready.

”It’s one of those moments you come off the bench and you’ve got better, fresh legs and produce some magic like that. I’m thrilled we managed to go through and we knocked out probably the best team in the Premier League.”

After the win over Bolton, which puts them in sight of a Uefa Cup spot, McCarthy, who missed a penalty against Bolton last October, said: ”I’m always confident about taking penalties. I think I’m a good penalty taker even though I didn’t score last time at Ewood.”

Boss Hughes grinned: ”Benni has had a great season. He looks fresh and full of running, his movement and work rate are first class.

”The value we’ve got from him so far is a hell of a lot more than the £2,5-million we paid. He wasn’t going to let anybody else have the penalties. It takes mental strength and a belief in your own ability. I would never take a penalty as a player. The emotion and adrenalin make it tough.”

For McCarthy, after years on the verge, the big time looms.

As a former Champions League winner, McCarthy feels confident he will fulfil European Cup predictions too … and he’s backing his old Porto boss Jose Mourinho to go all the way after the Blues saw off Porto on Tuesday night.

He said: ”Chelsea are my first favourites to win this season. Mourinho has been there and done it.

”[He] is in a league of his own as regards player management and man-to-man management — he is fantastic. That is why he has already won five cups with Chelsea since he joined the club.”

McCarthy came on as a substitute for Porto in their 3-0 win over Monaco at Gelsenkirchen in their 2004 triumph and was a key figure in the Portuguese club’s successful European campaign that season.

He scored twice against Manchester United when Porto won 2-1 in Portugal, before drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford on their way to the final.

McCarthy has also been impressed by Chelsea’s togetherness in the two Premiership games and a Carling Cup tie he has played against Mourinho’s side.

Blackburn lost all three games and failed to score against Chelsea.

”They’re difficult to score against and, in Didier Drogba, they have the man of the season — everything he does seems to go in. Chelsea are a complete side.”

McCarthy has scored seven more league goals than Chelsea’s £30-million Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko and he believes his record is partly due to his ability to adapt more quickly to life in England.

”I could already speak English and the language barrier was not a problem — and South Africa is also very similar to England in many ways.

”Maybe Shevchenko hasn’t adapted so quickly — he was used to playing in Italy for so long. Italian football is about finding space and getting time on the ball. In England you are pressed all the time and sometimes you don’t get a single chance.

”For him the language, the culture and environment must be very different. Maybe that is why he has been struggling.”

McCarthy certainly isn’t struggling. With 18 goals this season, he is the top scorer at Ewood Park and, with Stuart Pearce’s out-of-form Manchester City up next, an FA Cup final appearance looms.