'Safa took the easy way'
Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00
BidVest Wits coach Roger de Sa says the South African Football Association (Safa) have gone for a quick fix by rehiring Brazilian World Cup winner Carlos Alberto Parreira, as Bafana Bafana's head coach.
But De Sa stressed that the country must rally behind Parreira
who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994.
"We must make the best of this new appointment and get behind
Parreira. At the end of the day we are all South Africans and must
show our patriotism and support Bafana and the new coach," De Sa
said.
Parreira takes over from countryman Joel Santana, who quit after
17 disastrous months in charge.
Parreira left Bafana last April due to his wife's illness but
accepted a contract to take Bafana to the 2010 World Cup finals.
Said De Sa: "In my opinion Safa are looking to Parreira to wave
his magic wand. It is like putting on a new tyre when the road
needs repairing.
"Safa have done no development of players or coaches. Maybe
Parreira will do well, I do not know.
"However, under Santana the structures at national level
collapsed. We need a five to six year plan for not just Bafana, but
from the grassroots, to get our soccer back into shape.
"Hiring Parreira will not make everything right overnight. To me
this is not the way forward, but we need to back Parreira."
But De Sa, a former Bafana goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach,
added Safa should have appointed Pitso Mosimane, the current
national assistant coach.
"Pitso is ready and should have been promoted when Santana left.
"We have eight months to go to the World Cup and I agree Santana
had to go, but I had hoped Safa would have shown some confidence in
a local coach as in my mind a coach like Pitso, who has been
involved with Bafana over the past two years, deserved a break."
But De Sa said Parreira would be a big improvement on Santana
who showed his arrogance by refusing to speak to local coaches or
accepting advice.
"At least Parreira, when he took charge of Bafana last time, had
meetings with PSL coaches and discussed Bafana with us.
"In that respect Parreira is a professional and can only do
better than his predecessor."