Benni's Omission Shocked Hughes

Blackburn Rovers manager Mark Hughes has admitted that he was shocked by Benni McCarthy's omission from South Africa's African Cup of Nations squad.

Carlos Alberto Parreira named his 23-man squad last week but one of the major shocks was the absence of McCarthy, something that surprised even Hughes as he was preparing for McCarthy's absence for up to six weeks. Despite reports to the contrary Hughes insists that Rovers put no pressure on anyone for McCarthy to be omitted.

Hughes told Sky Sports: "It was a surprise to Benni initially that he got called back into the squad earlier this year.

"But it was a new manager and, obviously, he wanted to see what options he had. Maybe that's behind it.

"I'd have to speak to Benni because I was unaware of it.

"We haven't put any pressure on Benni or South Africa not to include him, and we were preparing to be without him."

Personally I'm still also coming to terms with the surprise of this, but it was a VERY pleasant surprise!!!

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