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Politicians 'stay out of Bafana'
23/03/2008 13:41 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Beleaguered South Africa football coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has told politicians to stop interfering in his attempts to turn round the on-field fortunes of the 2010 World Cup hosts.
After the country's sports minister proposed that Bafana Bafana's top 50 players be contracted to the government for two years and only play practice matches against local clubs, Parreira told a Sunday newspaper that there was no quick-fix solution for a team currently ranked 71st in the world.
Parreira, who coached his native Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title, also reacted angrily to accusations he was not devoted enough to his new employers who were paying him $1.8m ($227 000) a month.
"People are looking for short-cuts but there are none in football," he told the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times.
"I don't interfere in politics because I know nothing about it ... It is one thing to talk about a bullfight but another thing to be in the arena facing the bull."
Stofile expresses concern
Bafana Bafana (Zulu for "boys") were the African Nations champions in 1996, but are now ranked only the 14th best side on the continent and were eliminated in the first round of the latest Nations Cup in Ghana in February.
Stofile had expressed concern that the team would end up embarrassing South Africa in 2010, and even FIFA bosses had spoken of the need for the team to raise their game.
Among the backers of the government contract plan was Butana Khompela, head of parliament's sports committee, who said it "should be implemented without delay to save our national soccer team from the quagmire of mediocrity".
Parreira said the side had been in long-term decline and everyone needed to pull together to turn round the situation, including the coaches of local sides who had complained about the number of friendlies.
"We have reached rock bottom and need a way to get out of this," he said.
"Where in the world have you heard of a national team coach resting a player to save him for his club? I cannot imagine (England coach) Fabio Capello saving Steven Gerrard so that he can be fresh when Rafa Benitez plays him for Liverpool... The national team is the priority."
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