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Brazilian Carlos Parreira returned as coach to South Africa's national football team on Friday. He took over his compatriot Joel Santana, who was dismissed this week.
The South African Football Association (SAFA) confirmed that Parreira had been picked to turn around the lacklustre World Cup host side in the eight short months left to go before kick-off in the tournament.
SAFA confirmed in its website statement,"Pereira’s contract with SAFA runs through to the 2010 FIFA World Cup." The decision was by the national executive committee taken in a meeting in Johannesburg on Friday.
Parreira expressing his happiness over the new move said, “There is a special flavour to coaching the host country (in a World Cup), but that also entails a great responsibility, because the coach is at least obliged to get through the group stage and even to go a bit further.”
Parreira in his 41-year coaching stint led his country to the 1994 World Cup title.SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani said,"It was our wish to have a local person coach the national team Bafana, but we have only eight months to go to the World Cup and there is no time for experimenting, so we went for experience."
He was quoted as saying in the website,"Also it is Pereira’s programme that the national team is following, so it's only fair and wise that he returns to continue with it. But the meeting has agreed in principle that the next Bafana coach after the World Cup will be one of our own.”
"I only accepted because I am not starting from scratch. There is very little time left till the World Cup, but I know the country, the players, the leadership, and all that will make my job easier," Parreira said.
