|
Santana a worker not a talker
19/05/2008 21:36 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| New Bafana Bafana coach Brazilian Joel Santana addressed the media in Johannesburg on Monday. (Sapa) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Johannesburg - With the physique of a heavyweight boxer and a politician's attribute of ducking and diving when bombarded by tricky questions, new Bafana Bafana coach Joel Santana made his first public appearance at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Monday.
And he justified his broken English through Portuguese interpreter Jose Ferrera by declaring: "I am not here to do a lot of talking - I am here to do a lot of work."
"Also," he added, "soccer is an international language. But, at the same time, my English will improve quickly. Just as I became fluent in Arabic when I coached in Saudi Arabia and my Japanese when I worked in Japan."
When asked whether his acceptance to succeed fellow-Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira in guiding Bafana to the 2010 World Cup constituted the first occasion he had received an offer to coach at international level, he avoided a direct reply and instead proceeded to list the not inconsiderable record he had accumulated at club level over more than 25 years.
Asked why in 25 years he had gone through a similar number of appointments, the flamboyant 59 year-old Santana revealed that he had been called up with a good deal of success to coach Rio's famed Flamengo club no less than six times - while once again avoiding answering the question put to him.
Big, bulky and boisterous, Santana was in many ways a direct contrast to the World Cup-winning, but softly-spoken and studious Parreira, who had recommended him for the Bafana job.
Difficult, but not impossible undertaking
"I have known Carlos Alberto as a friend and a colleague for 25 years," he said, "and I am sure he would not have chosen me as his successor if he did not have confidence in my ability to succeed."
Although not having participated in either sphere at international level, Santana said his record in soccer as a player for 10 years in the Brazilian first division and then as coach had put him through the mill and provided him with the necessary experience and know-how to coach Bafana.
And providing him primarily with assurance for what he called a difficult, but not impossible undertaking to raise Bafana to a satisfactory level for the World Cup was the knowledge that sufficient technical ability exists in South Africa - "and the task at hand is to mould this talent and bring it to fruition."
"I come here with both faith and courage in my ability to succeed," he said, "with full confidence in my two assistants, Jairo Leal, with whom I have worked in Brazil, and Pitso Mosimane, about whom Parreira has spoken highly.
"But in the end," he added, "whether Bafana come up to expectations in the World Cup or not will be the product of a team effort, with the entire technical team involved - and Safa, the soccer public and the media all playing important roles as well."
In this respect, he called on all South Africans to stand by him in what was not only an exciting adventure, but a supreme challenge both for himself as a coach and South Africa to make a success of the World Cup -both on and off the pitch.
And, had he come straight from the Brazilian parliament, he could not have put it more eloquently - and with all the persuasive instincts of a polished politician.
"For someone who says he is not a talker," reasoned one journalist, "he has not done too badly."
- SAPA
|
