A tournament where the hosts never get beyond the first round is always dreaded because the general buzz and interest dies down. Bafana are not doing enough to allay this fear. France went all the way in 1998, South Korea kept the torch burning after Japan got knocked out when they were co-hosts in 2002 and Germany also reached the semi-finals in 2006. It looks like the unthinkable is about to happen with South Africa in 2010. Bafana’s results must also be a concern for the Fifa headquarters in Zurich knowing how much revenue could be lost should Bafana get knocked out in the first round.
So far Joel Santana has failed to impress since he took over 17 months ago especially considering that he is on a salary of R1.4 million a month, which makes him one of the highest paid coaches in Africa. His lack of English is also a cause for concern. How does he express instructions to the players? One of the biggest problems so far has been previous Safa administrators’ reluctance to go back on their decisions. When the national association presented Santana as national coach, many people wondered who he was because he was an unknown outside Brazil except for a few stints as a club coach in the United Arab Emirates and Japan. In his native Brazil he was mostly employed as a miracle man, called upon when clubs where in trouble of relegation. The fact that he was recommended by his compatriot Carlos Alberto Parreira also puts it under the spotlight. Did Safa consider any other candidates before they settled on Santana? Despite Bafana’s failure to reach next year’s African Nations Cup, some soccer administrators saw it as a blessing in disguise or they were just dizzy from the Brazilian euphoria but since then his position has been the source of much debate because Safa decided not to ditch him after the failure.
The fact that Santana is still awarding new caps to players points to a coach who is running out of ideas and a desperate search for depth. His approach to coaching South Africa has hindered the national team’s progress. His refusal to call Benni McCarthy and Nasief Morris, two players who are experienced and have endured the rigours of European soccer, is his fault as is his tactical inflexibility, late substitutions and inability to get the best out of some players, especially Teko Modise and Steven Pienaar. We know these two players, when they are on song they are untouchable and can help Bafana compete with the best in world football.
Having lost 8 of the last 9 matches, he is really walking on thin ice. He can not afford defeat against Japan on November 14th and then Jamaica three days later. He has a lot of talent to choose from including one of the most consistent players in the English Premier League, Pienaar, or the star of the local league, Modise. The Confederations Cup might have gone well but winning one match, drawing one and losing three doesn’t hold up as a great record. Maybe he should have been shown the door back then considering that his win in that tournament came against minnows New Zealand. But Bafana are back in the spotlight after their recent performances, especially against Ireland’s B team and 96th ranked Iceland, teams they could have easily beaten.
Santana is always going on about how well the players are doing and that “we are on track for 2010″. He says he was happy with individual performances against Norway in Oslo at the weekend and against Iceland in Reykjavik. After being in charge for 17 months, he should have built a team by now calling replacements only when there are injuries like Dunga does for Brazil? He has a settled team and results are there for everyone to see. The point raised by the coach that his team will be consistent and ready by the World Cup is also a concern, why can’t the team be ready now so that we go into the World Cup in high spirits?
Ultimately Santana will take the blame for all Bafana’s woes but the reality is that much of the criticism should be levelled at Safa for their blind faith in the Brazilian mentor. At least the current Safa administration are taking drastic steps to ensure the team improves but then isn’t that too little too late? Maybe it’s better to cut the cord now before the country sinks deeper into despair.
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6 Responses to “Should Santana get the chop?”
Like re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic methinks!
If they are going to chop Santana and in so doing admit that they made a serious error in judgement (which I believe a lot of people pointed to when he was hired at an exorbitant salary in the first place) then those that are responsible should do the honourable thing - like Chuene - and resign too.
Obviously it has to be cleaned from the top. You cant just let the coach’s head roll without a few others rolling with him. The fact that the previous administration was voted out of power helps a lot but then the CEO - Hack who was part of the decision making team is still there, so maybe they he also has to shoulder the blame. At the end of the day, the coach is the one who has to create miracles with players at his disposal.
there is too much wrong with your argument, broer!
firstly, who said the financial model of the world cup is based on south africa going all the way! btw, we are incapable of doing that given the lack of players in this country. teko modise is way over rated! proof, how many of our players, compared to ghana, cameroun, ivory coast and nigeria, play in the top leauges of the world? there you go. ZERO!
secondly, where have you heard of the miracle of preparing a world cup winning squad in less that five years? yours and south africa’s collective naivety ito time vs preparation would be ridiculous if it was not so sad. it points to the total lack of understanding of football?
if any coach could have done something about our football dont you think it should have happened by now? why has it not? i’d tell you this, winning in 1996 was the worst curse for this country! now we cant accept our fallability! it shows our arrogance and ignorance.
about language, football is a universal language! our players become proffesional way too late in their lives hence the inability to understand formations and tactics. and you wonder wy teko is not playing overseas! no good player in the world today plies their trade outside of europe! finish and klaar. the best players play in the earopean champions league. more than 64 teams contest the right to compete at that level. i bet you will not make a team with south africans who do not cut the 32 team mark! and you claim that santana has talent to choose from. what do you call talent? people who perform monkey tricks with the ball? those belong in the circus, my friend!
we have a long way to go with football and sadly, we all do not see that. we resemble the blond chick who asks who asks to be anointed as a doctor without doing the course! very laughable. especially when our so-called pundits are not even honest with us…
@Edwin - You know that with every tournament there is always a lot of interest when the home team is in the tournament, we have seen it with the cricket. Merchandise sales go down & general buzz and interest in the tournament goes down.
Players dont need to be playing in the top leagues for them to perform. South Korea 2002, all their players were plying their trade in their Korean league except one who was playing in the Italian Serie A who was more of a bench warmer there. He was actually there just to sell shirts in Asia. Another example is Egypt, how many of their players play in Europe? Not many 1 or 2 who dont even get a shot at the national team like Mido but they have still managed to win back to back African Nations Cup titles beating the very same countries that have stars in European leagues.
Guus Hiddink has done it time and again, he turned South Korea into world beaters in 2 years. He started coaching them in 2000 & by 2002 they managed to beat the likes of Portugal which had Figo & Rui Costa, Italy with all their stars, Spain enroute to the semi finals. He led Australia in to the second round in 2006 after taking over in October 2005. It shows that it can be done, you dont need 5 years. IF coaches havent been fired for no reason in the past, South Africa could have been somewhere. Carlos Quieroz had turned SA into world beaters, they scared France in 2000. The French coach said after the game that he was lucky to get a draw.
About language, football is a universal language ofcourse but for passing instructions, you definitely need to learn the local dialect. Mourinho learnt Italian in a matter of weeks to show that he was really upto the task of coaching Internaziole. You cant say that language doesn’t matter.
There are a lot of players still plying their trades in their local leagues, you dont need to go abroad to show that you are an excellent player. Mohamed Aboutrika still plies his trade in the Egyptian League & he was voted Player of the tournament in 2008 ahead of the Eto’os and Drogbas. It shows you dont necessary have to be playing in Europe to be the best. The very same players can be turned into world beaters if they get a good coach, he just have to get them to have focus & discipline. A good coach always gets the best out of what he has at his disposal. Locally Igesund is good at that, he has performed miracles at Santos & he is doing it again at Maritzburg on a shoe-string budget. Some people always write them off as relegation fodder but they are not anymore are they? You dont have to say the best players play in the Champions league, Antonio Cassano is the best player currently in Italy & he is not in the Champions league, Gareth Barry in England is an England regular but he is not in the Champions league. Your argument in that regard is flawed.
With the right coach now that Santana is gone and a good players, South Africa can always go back to the top.
firstly, you are implying the international sports boycott which affected south africa for over 20 years did not have any effect. let alone the fact that internationally, football had just become very technical and professional across the world zt the start of that boycott. the double impact of this needs to be analysed, ie the isolation itself and the pace of football development during that isolation. my take, it is a long project to overcome that. if you think about it, football development is a continously evolving concept. unlike technology, where the one who joins later can benefit from the latest, in football, the basics remain the same! which means we have to go through the same tutelage as the everybody else. a lot of hard work is required. this does not require a good coach. it requires everybody to do their share and work hard. it will clearly take time as well. no mastery in coaching will solve this problem.
also, think about this. how many coaching academies do we have in this country? how many south african coaches have a level 5 badge? zero!do you ever think we actually do make noise about stuff we dont know? our football fan mentality is individual based. we have no appreciation of the team ethic let alone understanding of the football flow and result - in most cases - as an aggregation of the team mechanics and dynamics. it is understandable ignorance given our isolation. unfortunately, it muddles our perspective and we fail to learn. it is only when we are patient and acknowledge shortcomings that we can appreciate this matter will take time!
i will need to write a 100+ page thesis to explain to you, according to my understanding, what needs to be done. it is a long story.
anyway, the south african games, if we go all the way, is only 7 games of which 3 we are definitely playing. the majority of football attending people in the country at the time will be foreigners. hence the concern about hotel rooms. fifa will still make money! (btw, nore than half of it is already in tha bank!)if brazil, italy, germany and those ilk of countries goes out only does the word ‘lustre’ loom. about cricket and rugby, i do not think those sports are comparable to football. fifa world cup is bigger than the olympics, which are bigger than rugby world and cricket world cup combined. and you know that!
The International boycott shouldn’t be much of an excuse. Look at Russia, they have come so far since the fall of the USSR. Most of their players & Stars came from their other “countries” like Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania & Russia itself. Their greatest player in that Era, Oleg Blokhin came from Ukraine. Since the fall of USSR in 1989/90 they have been failures even though they have been qualifying for world cups and Euro tournaments. Their fortune changed when Guus Hiddink took over in 2006 as he led them to 4th place at Euro 2008 & they are inline to qualify for the world cup where they will surely put on a good showing. He actually changed their whole structure starting from the academies to the senior team, which is exactly what SA needs. You cant tell me that between 1992(readmission) & 2009(year of failure) the countries fortunes could not be changed for the better even for the best. A lot of countries in the South American peninsula also can bear testimony to this. Ecuador have been a rising force in world football recently whereas they used to be under achievers, because of development and the right coaches. Chile have been underachieving since they made the 2nd round of France 98 but they found the right coach in Marcelo Bielsa who has led them to the 2010 world cup.
For development to be taken seriously, SAFA need to get the ball rolling, academies, proper qualifications for the academy coaches & even for the senior coaches. Since we like coping the English model so much, you can’t coach in England without an UEFA pro license unless its by special dispensation but then you will have to take the test in the next 12 months like in the case of Keane at Sunderland and Southgate at Middlesborough. Do you think Santana was the right man to lead Bafana given his lack of International exposure? He comes from a Brazilian Culture where things are done different which means when he moves somewhere else he will have to learn the culture, the language and the players background which is helpful if you are to get the best out of what you have. Jose Mourinho has done all these adjustments, he grew up being an assistant in Spain & Portugal but before he moved to England, he learnt English & then when he moved to Italy, he learnt Italian. My second favourite coach Guus Hiddink, has done it time and time again. One man can change a national team.
QUESTION: Do you think Santana deserved the job in the first place? His 1.4 million salary?
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Joseph Misika is a web applications developer at the Mail&Guardian Online. He has been working there for a year now but has been playing around with web applications for 6 years.
A student at heart and always looking to learn new stuff. He is currently focused on web development, linux (think there is more to linux than we know) and gaming (Playstation). His interests range from sports to development. In the future looking to build a media & technology empire. Favourite teams are Mamelodi Sundowns (SA) and Manchester United (abroad).
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Like re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic methinks!
If they are going to chop Santana and in so doing admit that they made a serious error in judgement (which I believe a lot of people pointed to when he was hired at an exorbitant salary in the first place) then those that are responsible should do the honourable thing - like Chuene - and resign too.
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