JOHANNESBURG - The ongoing twists and turns with regard to the appointment of a new Bafana Bafana coach suggest the South African Football Association (Safa) could settle for a third or even fourth option as a replacement for axed Shakes Mashaba.
Owen Da Gama, named caretaker coach when Mashaba was suspended in November and fired a month later, will on Thursday announce the squad to face Guinea-Bissau and Angola in friendly matches to be played in two weeks’ time as the national team post remains vacant.
We reported last week that Carlos Queiroz, Ruud Krol and Gavin Hunt were being considered, with Herve Renard also reported to be showing a keen interest in the job.
It appears Safa are going back to the drawing board after preferred candidate Queiroz is unable to break away from a hefty buyout clause from the Iran Football Association, this despite resigning in December.
“They are accusing him of quitting with the intention to take up the Bafana job and as far as they are concerned that is a breach of contract. They want to be compensated,” our source said this week.
Over the weekend, several reports suggested Renard, currently the Morocco coach and employed until after the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, was now Safa’s second choice. But his representative, Yousseff Haijoub, distanced the Frenchman from the position and claimed no one from Safa had made contact.
Then there was Hugo Broos, the triumphant coach at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) last month with Cameroon, another ideal contender locked into a contract that will cost Safa millions.
With the best candidates seemingly unavailable, what now?
Well, nowhere really. And each new day brings further uncertainties and it is looking increasingly like Safa could settle for whoever is unattached or has less complex contractual obligations. There will be no escaping the fact that whoever is hired was not the original target, although they will still have the same mandate - making sure Bafana qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia and the 2019 Afcon in Cameroon.
These are the men that remain in the earlier shortlist of candidates:
Ruud Krol
There were concerns from the search committee that the former Orlando Pirates treble winner has not done much on the continent to warrant getting the Bafana job. Apart from his success with the Buccaneers in 2011, the Dutchman only has one major continental title in the CAF Confederation Cup, which he won with Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien two years later. However, Safa won’t be picky now having missed their deadline to make an appointment. Krol is currently unattached and would start immediately if appointed.
Gavin Hunt
A three-time Premier League winner with previous club SuperSport United, the Bidvest Wits coach would continue the trend of hiring local coaches after Pitso Mosimane replaced Brazilians Carlos Alberto Parreira following the 2010 World Cup. Hunt is eyeing a fourth championship this season and has the big task of helping the Clever Boys get past Egypt’s Al Ahly in the CAF Champions League over two legs, starting this weekend. His record on the continent is almost non-existent, but the assumption is it wouldn’t be too expensive to get him out of his contract with Wits because it expires at the end season.
Hassan Shehata
“The Master” as the former Egypt coach is nicknamed, was among a long list of hopefuls to send their CVs over to Safa as soon as the Bafana job became available. While he did make the shortlist, the search committee felt Shehata’s language barrier (he apparently only speaks Arabic) ruled him out as an ideal candidate. And at 67, he might have fallen behind with how the game has evolved.
@superjourno