Safa mum on Shakes’ future
SATURDAY MEETING TO CLARIFY CONUNDRUM
SAFA president Danny Jordaan is playing his cards close to his chest ahead of the association’s technical committee meeting on Saturday where the future of Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba could be decided.
Mashaba’s job is on the line after the team failed to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Jordaan, though, gave little away during his interview with the media at Orlando Stadium after Bafana edged Egypt 1-0 in the Nelson Mandela Challenge on Tuesday.
Bafana’s technical team, led by Mashaba, is expected to table its report about the failed Afcon qualifiers campaign and the committee is then expected to give a recommendation on the way forward.
When he was appointed in June 2014, Mashaba was given the mandate to qualify the team for the 2017 Afcon and the 2018 Fifa World Cup. Having failed to qualify for Afcon in Gabon next year, he could be sacked, but Jordaan was giving nothing away. “The technical team will meet on Saturday, look at the reports and will see what the reports say. I don’t know what’s in the reports, maybe you know and I don’t know,” said Jordaan.
When pushed to comment on whether it would be ideal to change a coach now ahead of the World Cup qualifiers that are starting next month, Jordaan was again non-committal.
“No, no. You see you cannot get the results if you didn’t write the exam. Let them [the technical team] submit their exam papers first and they must submit their papers on Saturday.”
Jordaan, who blasted the team after their poor showing in the 1-1 draw against Mauritania last Friday, was this time impressed with what he saw from Bafana against Egypt. He did, however, call for consistency. “I think that players clearly got a wake-up call and I think they played significantly better than the last match. If you look at the way they strung the passes together, it was much better and I think the introduction of [Mandla] Masango made a difference in the midfield,” Jordaan reflected. “The way the players played [against Egypt], they brought the spark, energy, commitment, flair and I think if they continue with the spark, they can compete,” he added. Meanwhile, the future of Banyana Banyana coach Vera Pauw is also expected to be clarified.