SAFA are keeping the lid on who will succeed Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira – even though the Brazilian has disclosed that the next man to lead the national team has already been decided. Parreira says that an announcement will be made soon and that “it is a very good appointment.”
Parreira bowed out of his $200 000-a-month job after Bafana’s elimination from the 2010 Soccer World Cup in which they drew with Mexico 1-1, lost to eventual Group A table-toppers Uruguay 3-0, but rebounded to beat a woeful French side 2-1.
According to the KickOff website, SAFA have always stated that the new Bafana Bafana coach will be a South African and that preference would be given to Parreira’s long-standing assistant Pitso Mosimane who also occupied that position during the tenure of former Bafana coach Joel Santana.
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French coach Raymond Domenech refused to shake Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s hand after their final Group match yesterday.
Parreira said an assistant coach for France told him that Domenech had refused to shake his hand because Parreira once offended the French team by saying they shouldn’t have qualified for the World Cup. Parreira said he doesn’t remember insulting France. He called Domenech’s refusal “very lamentable.”
Check out the video on Sport24.co.za here.
South Africa beat a disjointed French team for the first time in history 2 – 1 yesterday, but unfortunately it was not good enough to qualify for the knockout stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Uruguay, who beat Mexico 1-0, finished top of the group with seven points for a place in the last 16 with the Mexicans, who edged out South Africa on goal difference. The hosts were third on four points with hapless France finishing last on one.
South Africa became the first World Cup hosts to fail to survive the group stage but at least restored some pride.
“I am proud of the boys. They made this country proud. They proved that they have made progress,” said their upbeat Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
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Uruguay striker Diego Forlan scored twice on Wednesday to spoil South Africa’s World Cup party by beating them 3 – 0 and dealing a heavy blow to their aspirations to reach the knock-out stages.
A 24th minute strike and then a controversial 80th minute penalty from Forlan, which saw home keeper Itumeleng Khune sent off after he was ruled to have brought down Luis Suarez, did the damage.
A last-minute header from Alvaro Pereira rubbed in the defeat and sent the despondent home support at the Loftus Versfeld rushing to the exits.
Impressive Uruguay are now in a strong position on four points from two games while South Africa have just a point.
The defeat was the worst for a host nation since Mexico lost 4-1 at home to Italy in the 1970 quarterfinal and there was a good deal of Italian style about the way Uruguay went about clinically and patiently dissecting their opponents.
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With 98 days to go before the World Cup tournament kicks off in South Africa, Bafana Bafana still looks like a lost team.
This was evident during their 1-1 draw with Namibia in an international friendly at World Cup venue, Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban last night. Rudolf Bester scored for the visitors while Katlego Mphela netted for Bafana. Bafana’s performance during the encounter showed that there’s still a lot of work to be done.
The warning signs are there that Bafana might bomb out of the tournament in the group stages of the World Cup if they don’t rectify their game. Bafana took the game to their opponents, but that lasted only five minutes as they quickly took their feet off the pedal.
Unaware that Bester was behind him, casual Bafana defender Siyabonga Sangweni nearly gave away a goal in the eighth minute, but the Namibian striker, who earns his living at Maritzburg United, failed to beat keeper Itumeleng Khune. There were moments when Bafana tried to string together some neat passes that were mostly instigated by Bafana captain Teko Modise, but still those yielded nothing. Modise would lay off the passes for either Racing Genk right back Anele Ngcongca to surge forward, or, he would locate Lance Davids, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Lebohang Mokoena.
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Bafana Bafana lost 3 – 0 to Iceland on Tuesday night, bringing the South African team’s tally to eight games lost out of nine.
This game had a great deal riding on it from Bafana coach Joel Santana’s perspective, with his side being closely watched and his job on the line if results did not turn around drastically.
In the early stages of the match Macbeth Sibaya had a good shot on goal from distance, but despite an awkward bounce the goalkeeper collected the ball.
The stadium was virtually empty, with the players on the pitch more audible than the few supporters in the crowd on a very cold night in Iceland. The South Africans had a desperate look about them, with every counter attack and scoring opportunity having extra pressure attached to it after so many bad results in the last few months.
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The new Safa president Kirsten Nematandani have appointed a panel comprising of SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt and two former Bafana coaches Clive Barker and Jomo Sono to assess Bafana’s performances under Joel Santana.
Santana and his beleaguered Bafana squad leave on Tuesday night for two friendly matches against Norway in Oslo on Saturday and Iceland in Reykjavik next Tuesday knowing that his new bosses are going to be much tougher to please than the old regime and mediocrity will not be tolerated.
Nematandani and his new committee have made no bones about the fact they are fed up with the poor results that Bafana and Santana have delivered since the Confederations Cup in June.
Nematandani warned after the Safa annual general meeting last Saturday that getting Bafana back on track for next June’s World Cup finals was one of his major priorities.
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Bafana Bafana could only manage a disappointing goalless draw against Iraq at Ellis Park on Sunday.
Bafana squandered three gilt-edged chances in the space of five minutes late in the game, the worst in the 84th minute when midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi headed across goal after Iraqi keeper Mohamed Kassid had missed a cross.
The South African team showed some neat touches in midfield in which MacBeth Sibaya was outstanding but they over-elaborated while strikers Parker and Fanteni failed to hold the ball up with any regularity.
The match was watched by South African president Jacob Zuma, who welcomed the world to Africa at the end of a colourful pre-match opening ceremony.
Midfielder Macbeth Sibaya, who came close with a long range shot in the first half, said that confidence in the team remained high.
“We believe in ourselves.” said Sibaya, who plays for Russian champions Rubin Kazan and will be playing in the UEFA Champions League next season, said the players would lift each other ahead of the next game.
“We have to be united and pick each other up. The atmosphere in the dressing room was not bad, even though we failed to score a goal against the Iraqis,” he said. “We remain confident because we did not give them a chance. I am disappointed with the goalless draw, even a 1-1 would have been better.”
South Africa’s next match is against New Zealand on Wednesday in Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng stadium. The All Whites lost their opening game against Spain 5-0 in Sunday’s late game.
Joel Santana received the best possible news on Sunday concerning his injured stars Steven Pienaar, Teko Modise and Tsepo Masilela.
Both Orlando Pirates midfield star Modise and Israel-based left-back Masilela did not play in Bafana‘s 1 – 0 win over Poland in their final warm-up friendly at Orlando Stadium on Saturday ahead of the Confederations Cup which kicks off on Sunday. Bafana face Iraq in the opening Group A clash at Ellis Park on Sunday at 4pm.
Pienaar limped off midway through the second half of the victory over Poland with a swollen ankle.
But Bafana manager Sipho Nkumane revealed on Sunday that all three players would be reporting fit for training on Monday morning.
“I have just seen Steven (Pienaar) and there is no problem,” said Nkumane. “He twisted his ankle against Poland but fortunately it is not serious and that is tremendous news for the squad.”
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Bafana Bafana have axed their leading point scorer Benni McCarthy from the provisional 30-man squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Record Bafana Bafana (The Boys) scorer McCarthy had been expected to get the nod from Brazil-born coach Joel Santana despite shunning recent friendlies against Norway and Portugal.
Blackburn Rovers striker McCarthy, scorer of 31 goals for South Africa, claimed he was injured despite being cleared to play by medical staff at the English Premiership strugglers.
Santana and various predecessors have treated McCarthy with kid gloves despite a controversial national team career since bursting into the limelight at the 1998 African Nations Cup.
McCarthy becomes available and unavailable for the national squad with alarmingly frequency, although the failure of South Africa to produce world-class strikers sometimes leaves coaches with no option but to pick him.
“I’m happy the coach has finally made this decision regarding McCarthy,” said Gordon Igesund, who has guided numerous big and small South African clubs to the Premiership title.
He told the Kickoff football magazine website: “This is a good lesson that there is no player bigger than the country and that everyone deserves the same treatment.
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