Joel Santana has picked Benni McCarthy in his South Africa squad

South Africa's Brazilian coach Joel Santana has included striker Benni McCarthy in his latest squad for a friendly against Australia in London.

The Blackburn star makes the team despite an outburst about the South Africa Football Association (Safa).

McCarthy recently claimed Safa's selection policy was a question of which clubs players represented rather than pure football ability.

His Blackburn club-mate Aaron Mokoena is also in the squad for the game.

Santana said: "This game will also afford me a chance to see the players in a game situation.

"I have only just come into the team and need to understand how each player responds in a game situation.

"Unlike at club level, at national level you don't have the luxury of having your players day in and day out.

"We must remain focused that our main objective is to deliver a world class team for the 2010 World Cup.

"Our pyramid scheme, which was started by my predecessor, Carlos Parreira and approved by Safa, must not be dismantled as it is the best model for this country."

Santana added that he will continue to use this year to check out players as part of the strategy to identify and build a base of players.

He also revealed that at the end of this year the identification exercise will end and he will immediately start working on the possible squad for the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup.

"We have to merge all the hard work put together in the past 16 months to produce a Team for 2010," he said.

"The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are therefore important for us, just as all the friendly games are."

South Africa squad:

Goalkeepers:
Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs), Moeneeb Josephs (Orlando Pirates)

Defenders:
Aaron Mokoena (Blackburn Rovers, England), Bongani Khumalo (SuperSport Utd), Nazeer Allie (Ajax Cape Town), Bryce Moon (Panathinaikos, Greece), Nasief Morris (Recreativo Huelva, Spain), Bevan Fransman (Maccabi Netanya, Israel), Bradley Carnell (Karlsruhe, Germany), Innocent Mdledle (Orlando Pirates)

Midfielders:
Thulasizwe Mbuyane and Teko Modise (both Orlando Pirates), Lance Davids (Djurgardens, Sweden), Macbeth Sibaya (Rubin Kazan, Russia), Matthew Pattison (Norwich, England), Surprise Moriri (Mamelodi Sundowns), Kagisho Dikgacoi (Golden Arrows), Siyabonga Nkosi (Arminia Bielefeld, Germany), Lefa Tsutsulupa (Moroka Swallows), Dean Furman (Rangers, Scotland), Siphiwe Tshabalala (Kaizer Chiefs)

Strikers:
Katlego Mphela and Sibusiso Zuma (both Mamelodi Sundowns), Benni McCarthy (Blackburn, England)