Benni McCarthy: Harambee Stars Coach Aims Dig at Quality of Modern Strikers Compared to His Era

Benni McCarthy has suggested that modern forwards might have the skills, but they are missing the fire that once turned strikers into fearless predators.

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has explained why he believes today’s strikers lack the same quality and competitive edge seen during his own playing era.

Benni McCarthy is widely celebrated as one of South Africa's most successful and decorated footballers, particularly for his accomplishments as a prolific striker in Europe and on the international stage.

His most prestigious achievement came during his time with FC Porto, where he became the only South African player to win the UEFA Champions League in the 2003-04 season under manager José Mourinho.

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In the 2003-04 league season, Benni McCarthy won the Golden Boot award as the top goalscorer with 20 goals. Later in his career, he moved to Blackburn Rovers, where he was the top goalscorer in the 2006-07 season.

Returning to South Africa, he won a domestic treble with Orlando Pirates, including the South African League title in the 2011-12 season. Benni McCarthy holds the record as the all-time top scorer for the South Africa national team, Bafana Bafana, with 31 goals. He played in two FIFA World Cups (1998 and 2002) and was the joint top goalscorer at the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations.

Benni McCarthy: Football Was Our Life

Benni McCarthy suggested that the strikers from his era are defined by an intense hunger and resilience that stemmed from the harsh realities they grew up in.

The Harambee Stars coach pointed out that most of the top attackers of his generation came from difficult backgrounds and had to fight for every opportunity, which instilled a survival mentality and an unwavering desire to excel.

According to Benni McCarthy, the fierce competition among rivals pushed them to constantly improve, as no one wanted to be second best. He believes that these factors made the older generation of strikers fundamentally different from the current crop.

“Hell yes. Yeah, we were just built differently. You know, football was our life. That was everything. It was almost like survival for us, because when you look at all those players that you mentioned, none of us were born with silver spoons in our mouths,” Benni McCarthy said in an interview with the Best Betting Sites.

“We had to work extremely hard to get where we were. When you were in that situation, you wanted to make the best of it. You wanted to make the most of everything; every moment counted. And the competition was fierce as well. You didn’t want to be outdone by your rivals.”

Benni McCarthy highlighted that his playing days were filled with an extraordinary number of elite forwards, referencing names such as Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha, Emmanuel Adebayor, Thierry Henry, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane as examples of the high calibre of attackers that defined that period.

The former Manchester United attacking coach noted that the list of exceptional strikers seemed endless back then, especially in the Premier League and across global football.

By comparison, he observed that modern football features far fewer traditional number nines, mentioning Robert Lewandowski as one of the few remaining who still fit that classic mould.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is still doing it at his age. Alexander Isak did it for Newcastle, now struggling to find his feet at Liverpool, but he’ll get there. Gyokeres too. You don’t see the goals that we strikers back then scored in, in very tough conditions in the Premier League,” he added.

“The difference was that the pitches were much more waterlogged and heavier than when we played compared to what it is now. Now there are proper drainage systems, and so the pitches are perfect.

“Every weekend we didn’t have that, but the amount of goals that all these strikers scored back in the day, we still smashed them in! So, you would say our generation of strikers was better.”

Benni McCarthy expressed confidence that while football continues to evolve, the mentality and toughness that defined his generation of strikers remain unmatched.

He acknowledged that the game today may be cleaner and more tactical, but insisted that the relentless hunger, fierce rivalry and sheer determination that once produced icons of the sport are qualities the modern era rarely replicates.