Bafana boss: tension rises
[caption id="attachment_42145" align="alignright" width="620"] CONTENDERS: Carlos Queiroz, Shakes Mashaba, Stephen Keshi and Frank Rijkaard[/caption]
THE South African Football Association will not name a technical director tomorrow as originally planned, after it decided that the unveiling of the new Bafana Bafana coach would be enough excitement forone day.
Safa was to announce both men after its extraordinary executive committee meeting at Safa House tomorrow, but decided against it when the increasingly divisive debate about who should be Bafana coach threatened to get out of hand.
Safa president Danny Jordaan said yesterday they were expecting the unveiling of the new coach to be greeted by furious debate and they did not want to also have to deal with another storm should the public not agree with the choice of technical director.
"So the technical director will not be on the agenda [tomorrow] and can wait for a later date," Jordaan said yesterday. "If both names go out there and people are not happy, it could create havoc."
Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter remains frontrunner to land the technical director position but faces furious objections from cynics who believe the job should rather go to a local.
As far as Bafana coach is concerned, Nigerian Stephen Keshi, Dutchman Frank Rijkaard and South African under-23 coach Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba are believed to be the front-runners in the race.
Carlos Queiroz seemingly dropped out of the race after Iran media reported at the weekend that he was negotiating a contract extension that would take him to the 2018 World Cup.
However, Queiroz cannot be completely ruled out. He seemingly left the door open for Safa when he was quoted as saying he would only finalise negotiations with the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) on August 1.
But Jordaan told Times Media this week he would not be lured into a bidding war for the services of Queiroz, who earned the equivalent of R22.1-million a year as Iran mentor before the World Cup in Brazil.
Should Queiroz sneak in at the death and land the job in an unexpected twist, Safa should brace itself for a storm as his astronomical salary remains a huge source of discomfort even for some executive committee members.
Jordaan conceded that Safa had come under considerable pressure from the public and the media since announcing last month that outgoing Bafana coach Gordon Igesund's contract would not be renewed. He said the critics expected Safa to announce the new coach in the middle of the World Cup last month and when this did not happen, they became restless.
"The PSL season is only going to start next month, so what was the new coach supposed to do all this time? The fact is every football federation on the planet started its cycle after the final whistle was blown at the World Cup in Brazil on July 13.
"Brazil only announced Dunga as their new coach this week. So did Serbia [name their coach] and a host of other countries. So we are in line with trends around the world."
The crucial meeting tomorrow will, among other things, also determine suspended Safa vice-president Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana's fate.
Safa suspended Nonkonyana in October last year after he said Igesund should quit if Bafana failed to reach the final of the African Nations Championships in January this year. The competition was held in South Africa.
Safa's financials will also be on the agenda and chief executive Dennis Mumble will inform the executive members about how the association is expected to make a turnaround in the year ended June 30. The football body reported a loss of R46-million in the 2012-13 financial year. - Mninawa Ntloko
