JOHANNESBURG – The South African Football Association has postponed the highly anticipated announcement of the new Bafana Bafana coach which was scheduled to take place at their headquarters, Safa House on Saturday, citing Covid-19 travel issues.
After almost a month since the sacking of Molefi Ntseki who failed to guide the senior men’s national team to the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon next year, the beleaguered association was expected to announce the coach this weekend.
But in a twist of things, taking to their social media pages on Friday night, at exactly 8pm, the association announced: “The Bafana Bafana coach announcement scheduled for Saturday, 24 April 2021 has been postponed due to the Covid-19 travel issues.”
BREAKING:The Bafana Bafana coach announcement scheduled for Saturday, 24 April 2021 has been postponed due to global Covid-19 travel issues.
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) April 23, 2021
We will reschedule the announcement to next week and further updates will be provided here.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
That postponement had direct indications that the incoming Bafana coach will be from overseas. The names of former Bafana coaches Carlos Queiroz and Philippe Troussier have been thrown in the hat for the vacant position due to their availability.
Two-time Afcon winning coach, with Zambia and Ivory Coast, Herve Rernard has also been reported to be keen on the Bafana job, despite currently holding the reins at the Saudi Arabian national team after leaving the Moroccan national team post the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
ALSO READ: If Pitso Mosimane doesn’t want the Bafana job, give it to Benni McCarthy
Locally, there’s been an outcry from the fraternity for the reappointment of son of the soil Pitso Mosimane. Mosimane, though, according to various reports, had put his foot down, saying he’s not keen on the job – as he’s happy at Al Ahly, the Egyptian giants.
Nonetheless, with the association expecting the new coach to hit the ground running amid the two 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Ghana in June, Safa added in their statement: “We will reschedule the announcement to next week...”
IOL Sport