KGOMOTSO MOKOENA IN what could be a major boost for the local league, the PSL is in negotiations with American sports broadcasters ESPN to beam PSL matches . ESPN provides worldwide sports coverage and this could result in huge exposure for the players, the league and the country. . . .

ON THE UP: Benni McCarthy of South Africa and Ngambi Alexio of Cameroon in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup match that helped Bafana Bafana rise in the rankings Picture: DOMINIC BARNARDT/GALLO IMAGESFifa ranking affects eligibility for permits for European leagues Bafana Bafana are finally just an inch from reaching the 75th spot that they so badly need to enable their players to pursue a career in England. This after they soared from 80th to 76th spot in the Fifa rankings. . . .

YOU GOT TO HAVE FAITH: Everton’s Steven Pienaar celebrates scoring against Tottenham Hotspur in their English Premier League match in London on Sunday. Everton won 1-0 Picture: AKIRA SUEMORI/APBig contribution at club level Bafana Bafana players are starting to turn things around at European club level. Benni McCarthy (Blackburn Rovers), Steven Pienaar (Everton) and Thembinkosi Fanteni (Maccabi Haifa) gave good accounts of themselves when they featured in the starting. . . .

Captain my captain Bafana skipper Aaron Mokoena celebrates with fans after SA beat Cameroon in the Nelson Mandela Challenge in Rustenburg this month; and, right, inspirational Springbok captain John Smit talks to his team during a training session. Pictures: AP PhotoBafana and Arsenal desperately need orator-captains whose actions also inspire teammates. Last Sunday, soon after recalling William Gallas from the Arsenal captaincy, Arsene Wenger gave the world one of his oddest bon mots yet. “I don’t believe too much in. . . .

SLIM BEN: Benni McCarthy impresses with his ball skills at a Bafana training session in Rustenburg yesterday. Even team-mate Bradley Carnell seems impressed. Bafana play Cameroon at Olympia Park in the bushveld town tonight Picture: SYDNEY SESHIBEDIAnd I’m not fat, insists the striker BENNI McCarthy feels he is in better shape when representing his country than when playing for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League. McCarthy has hardly featured for Rovers this season, where his new manager is Paul Ince. He. . . .

Bafana Bafana star Benni McCarthy has suffered a second tragic loss in less than a week. McCarthy’s father, Dudley, died on Wednesday after a long illness. He succumbed to complications from diabetes. At the weekend McCarthy’s former girlfriend, Amyleigh Barnes, 19,. . . .

Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana sprung another surprise on the unsuspecting soccer media today when he named a strange squad to play Cameroon in the Nelson Mandela Challenge at Rustenburg's Olympia Park next Wednesday. Santana named only three strikers in Benni McCarthy. . . .

Aaron Mokoena must find a new club according to former player Shaun BartlettFormer Bafana star striker and winner of the coveted African Nations Cup winners medal in 1996, Shaun Bartlett, points out three worrying factors affecting Bafana in the run-up to the Confederations Cup. They are the fact Bafana failed under coach Joel Santana to qualify for the. . . .