Parreira quits as Bafana coach
21 April 2008
The man South Africa hoped would give their national soccer team, Bafana Bafana, a fighting chance in the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Carlos Alberto Parreira, has resigned.
Just 15 months into his four-year contract, worth an estimated R100-million, the Brazilian is heading home to be with his wife, Leila, who has cancer and recently underwent surgery.
Speaking from South African Football Association (Safa) House in Johannesburg on Monday, Parreira explained the reasons for his resignation.
Regret
"I regret my decision very much, but my wife needs me near her. It is heartbreaking not to have this job till the end. I have been in seven World Cups before and I wanted this to be my eighth.
"We have worked hard, but there were some problems and it was difficult to keep a good balance between work and my personal life," he said.
The outgoing Bafana Bafana coach highlighted that he has been involved in soccer since 1967, and of those 40 years, he has spent 19 years abroad.
Safa chief executive officer Raymond Hack said Parreira had relinquished his position as senior coach of the national team for personal reasons, and that his official duties would run up until 2 May.
Technical advisor
Safa President Molefi Olifant told reporters that Parreira had agreed to continue to serve Bafana Bafana as a technical adviser. He will also assist Safa and South Africa to search for a coach that will take his vision and philosophy forward.
Olifant said Safa has also approached Bafana Bafana's assistant coach, Jairo Leal, to remain behind to continue Parreira's coaching philosophy.
Hack indicated that the outgoing coach would help to ensure a smooth transition until a new coach arrived. Parreira, who led Brazil to a World Cup title win in 1994, signed a historic R1.8-million a month four-year contract with Safa in 2007.
Criticism
It has not always been smooth sailing for the Brazilian, and he has endured criticism from all corners of South Africa for his coaching style and for some of Bafana's uninspiring performances on the international stage.
In March 2008, Parreira bumped heads with Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile, who publicly expressed concerns about the national side's performance in the run-up to the World Cup.
The national side's first round exit from the 2008 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ghana in February only further fuelled cynics. The Afcon competition was largely seen as a test of the squad's strength for the World Cup.
Critics silenced
Just two months later, however, Parreira silenced his critics when Bafana Bafana thrashed world number 26 Paraguay 3-0 in a friendly in Atteridgeville.
Bafana Bafana, who won the African Nations Championship in 1996, are ranked only 14th in Africa and 71st internationally.
Parreira's exit has thrown a curve ball in South Africa’s preparation for the World Cup; with less than 780 days to the opening of the 2010 tournament, the hunt for a new coach has to begin almost immediately.
Bafana Bafana will next be in action on 30 May when they face Nigeria in an Afcon qualifier. They tackle Equatorial Guinea a month later.
Source: BuaNews
