Bafana’s Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, is out of a job. Pallid performances and pitiful results sunk the former Flamengo coach. “In the bigger picture and the interest of the country,” said Mandla Mazibuko, SAFA vice-president, “he [Santana] realized while he was doing his best, his best was not good enough.”
Hand-picked by Bafana’s previous coach and fellow brasileiro Carlos Alberto Parreira, Santana lasted 18 months at the helm of the national side of the 2010 World Cup host country. His most notable achievement was a 4th-place finish in the 2009 Confederations Cup, which some critics opined was assisted by a lucky draw that placed South Africa in a group with minnows New Zealand and Iraq.
Football-mad South Africans have every reason to be worried. A few months before the World Cup and Bafana are rudderless and adrift. SAFA’s decision about Santana’s successor may be announced on Friday. Parreira is lurking in the shadows.
Update (10/24/09): Back to the Future : Parreira’s officially back.
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One reply on “Wanted: a Moses for Bafana Bafana”
I’m confused – Santana looked as if he had got the hang of coaching South Africa during the Confederations Cup and there were signs then that he had something positive to build on. Has anything happened since the summer to contribute to his reign ending, or did that pre-tournament lack of confidence simply transform over the months into an insurmountable tidal wave?