23/04/2008 08:07

Johannesburg - It took Safa two weeks to confirm that Carlos Alberto Parreira had resigned as coach of Bafana Bafana - and on Tuesday night soccer's national controlling body was remaining mum again in spite of the widespread reports from Brazil that Flamengo coach Joel Santana had accepted an offer to coach South Africa.

The 59-year-old Santana is even quoted as proclaiming he will earn more in South Africa in 30 months while preparing Bafana for the 2010 World Cup than he has earned in Brazil in 30 years - suggesting Safa has offered him a package somewhere in the region of the R1.8m a month that Parreira was receiving before he announced his resignation on Monday.

Flamengo have announced that Santana will assume the position of Bafana coach immediately after the Rio club's final state championship game against Botafogo on May 4.

"We could not stand in his way to go to South Africa in view of the lucrative offer he had received," said Flamengo vice-president Kleber Leite.

But despite the fact that the horse had effectively bolted in Safa's bid to delay the announcement of Santana as the new Bafana coach, the powers that be were still, so to speak, intent on bolting the stable door.

"No comment," said Safa CEO Raymond Hack when approached.

And communications director Morio Sanyane was equally non-committal.

"We are not in a position to make an announcement," he said from Safa's time warp. "We are still tieing up the loose ends."