This Benedict Ready to Defend His Country’s Honor

In the shadow of Table Mountain, the city of Cape Town stretches out until it blends into tree-shaded suburbs and sunny beach towns, the homes of affluent South Africans.

But there is another side to Cape Town, a side of ramshackle dwellings and roaming gangs. A side where poverty and crime walk hand in hand.

It was there, on the other side of the tracks, that Benedict McCarthy grew up. His family was so poor that as a teenager, Benni had to share a battered pair of soccer boots with his older brother.

That was only a few years ago, but it seems like a lifetime.

Today, when South Africa steps onto the field in Marseille for its World Cup debut, all eyes will turn toward McCarthy.

At 20, he carries the hopes of a young nation only recently emerged from a painful past.

At 20, he already is a millionaire, or close to it, with a diamond stud in each ear.

At 20, he is the future of the sport in his country, a country that well may be staging the World Cup before his career is over.

South Africa has the toughest of World Cup entrances to make. It must play France, the host nation and expected to reach at least the quarterfinals. South Africa’s other first-round opponents are Denmark and Saudi Arabia.

But McCarthy is not concerned. He already has proven himself on the international stage. This is just another chance to shine.

But it is also something more than that. It is the opportunity to show other youngsters trapped by poverty in South African townships that there is a way out. A way that does not involve guns and gangs.

“If you can score maybe two or three or four goals and you come from such an area, it motivates a lot of people,” McCarthy said at the team’s training camp in Vichy earlier this week.

“Maybe some of the violence would stop and people would start playing cricket or soccer because they’d see it’s not impossible to achieve your dreams.”

McCarthy’s dream began when he was playing for an obscure team in Cape Town and was spotted by a scout for the great Dutch club, Ajax Amsterdam. The club is renowned for finding unpolished youngsters and turning them into soccer gems.

Ajax offered McCarthy a five-year, $1-million contract to play in the Netherlands. He accepted.

And the rest, as they say, is history. In this case, it is history waiting to be written.

Already, a couple of chapters have been penned.

The material for the first was found at the African Nations Cup in Burkina Faso in February. Two players tied for the scoring title, with seven goals apiece. One was forward Hossam Hassan of eventual champion Egypt. The other was McCarthy.

But it was the man from the sharp end of the continent whose exploits were lauded: McCarthy was selected the tournament’s most valuable player.

Perhaps it was the South African national-record four goals he scored in one game against Namibia that did the trick. Just to show his versatility, he scored two with each foot. Pace and power are McCarthy’s trademarks, but he is developing additional skills with each game.

Said Jomo Sono, the former New York Cosmos player who coached South Africa into the Nations Cup final before handing the team over to current Coach Philippe Troussier:

“I think [McCarthy] has proved he is a good goal scorer. I’m very proud of him. Ever since I picked him, I was sure he would become a star.”

Sono may be biased toward his countryman, but listen also to the words of Roger Milla, Cameroon’s World Cup hero of 1990: “He does not play in a complicated way. He is showing how a modern center forward should develop.”

The second chapter in McCarthy’s rapidly fattening biography was written in the Netherlands this season, when he helped Ajax win both the Dutch League championship and the Dutch Cup.

The World Cup, though, remains only a dream. At least for the moment. But 20-year-olds dream.

“Sometimes when you sleep, you dream of winning the Golden Boot [as top scorer] and the World Cup,” he said this week. “But in reality, you’re up against players like [Brazil’s] Ronaldo, [and France’s Zinedine] Zidane and [Youri] Djorkaeff. Hopefully, one day I can class myself in that category.”

Today, the Bafana Bafana, or the Boys, as the national team is nicknamed, set out on their improbable quest. That they will be nervous goes without saying.

McCarthy will feel the same way, but his perspective is to enjoy the moment and make the best of it.

“Lots of great players aren’t going to the World Cup, so when you get selected, you have to be thrilled,” he said. “It means everything. This is the biggest tournament in the world.”

And to play against the host nation, what possibilities that conjures up.

“We must win against France, and I must score,” he said.

And if he does not, there’s no harm done. After all, Benni McCarthy has come a long way from those days when he roamed Cape Town in poverty, begging his brother to lend him his boots.