Cape Town City gaffer Benni McCarthy has slammed South Africa coach Stuart Baxter for not including Kermit Erasmus in his latest squad.
The in-form City striker was left out of the Bafana Bafana squad which is set to face Libya in a crucial Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier next weekend.
Baxter stated that Erasmus wants to feel like the main man in a team for him to perform at his best when explaining why he omitted the forward from the squad.
“Baxter goes and says that Kermit is not a team player, I completely disagree with him," McCarthy told the media.
Erasmus was surprisingly left out of the squad despite his good scoring form having netted three goals in his last three Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches.
"It's a bit frustrating when you see these things happening. Baxter has another thing coming. I had a conversation with him and I told him that Kermit is 95% ready,” he continued.
Bafana Bafana have to avoid a loss against the Mediterranean Knights in order to qualify for the Afcon finals which will be hosted by Egypt between June and July.
McCarthy, who is Bafana's all-time leading goal-scorer with 31 goals, feels that the British tactician does not select players based on merit.
"When he doesn’t qualify then we know why. It is because we don’t select players based on merit here," McCarthy added.
"Kermit deserves to be in the Bafana squad, but for some reason, he is not,” he concluded.
