Bafana Bafana's new coach, Joel Santana, will have to earn his huge salary
when he is expected to arrive in Johannesburg some time next week to take
over from fellow Brazilian, Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Reputed to be earning R1,5-million a month for his 30-month contract,
the Brazilian was warned by Fifa the world body expects Bafana to shine
at both the Confederations Cup in 2009 and the 2010 World Cup finals.
In a meeting on Wednesday, Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke stressed
that as host nation of both events, Fifa expected Bafana to get to at
least the second phase of both events.
Valcke said he hoped Santana would continue the work Parreira started
back in February 2007 in rebuilding Bafana into a competitive side that
can compete at both tournaments.
Said Valcke: "We would like to see the host nation of major events
such as the Confederations Cup and World Cup to get at least to the quarter-finals
or semi-finals. That would help keep the interest going in the host country.
It would not be good if Bafana were knocked out in the early rounds of
either the Confederations Cup or World Cup. That is why we hope the new
coach (Santana) will succeed with Bafana and make sure South Africa produce
a competitive host team for the events."
The draw for the Confederations Cup, which features eight leading countries,
would be held in Johannesburg on November 22.
Valcke also said he was supremely confident that South Africa would host
a "great" World Cup. He said Fifa were not worried about the
amount of negative reports from Europe, especially from Britain, about
the country's ability to stage the world's biggest soccer tournament.
He said: "There is nothing we can do about the negative reports.
I do not know where they come from. We will prove all the doubters wrong."
He said transport would not be a problem. "I am confident all the
stadiums will be ready on time, plus all the roads leading to and from
the stadiums as well as on the transport needed will be in place on time,"
he said.
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May 10 2008
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