Benni on board to help fill coach void

Benni McCarthy was yesterday named by the South African Football Association as part of an 11-person search committee that will decide on a new Bafana Bafana head coach.

“We want to have the process expedited as Bafana Bafana have a bumper 2017 season in which they need to compete and qualify on three fronts – namely Chan (the 2018 African Nations Championship), Afcon (the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations) and the Fifa World Cup in Russia 2018,” said Safa president Danny Jordaan in a statement.

Jordaan has already said he wants the new head coach to be named by the end of February, with Bafana set for friendlies at the end of March against Guinea-Bissau and Angola.

Safa also confirmed that former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral has applied for the job, as has Hugo Broos, the man who just won the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon and German footballing legend Lothar Mattheus.

Safa’s plans could yet be stymied, however, if Shakes Mashaba, who was sacked in December, wins a court application to stop Safa appointing new coach until his CCMA case for unfair dismissal - scheduled for March 7, 8 and 9 – is heard.

As well as McCarthy, the search committee also includes another Bafana legend in Lucas Radebe, as well as former Bafana coach Clive Barker, current Safa technical director Neil Tovey, Safa technical committee chair Nastasia Tsichlas, and Jordaan himself.