Brazilian dream team could save Bafana

National coach Joel Santana found himself on the ropes this week when he was reportedly summoned to Safa headquarters to account for his team’s poor run of results. For the record, Bafana Bafana have now recorded six losses in a row — their worst run ever.

Earlier this month, the team was beaten 2-0 by Germany and 1-0 by Ireland and Santana has been heavily criticised for sidelining assistant coaches Jairo Leal and Pitso Mosimane over the team selection. He is also under fire for adopting tactics which favour an ultra-defensive game.

It’s hard to believe, but the cloud under which the national squad finds itself does have a silver lining. The reality is the team has played some magnificent soccer under the guidance of Santana and four out of the six losses were against teams that are among the top five in the world rankings. But, at the end of the day, it’s goals and results that count and South Africa are failing in both departments.

Unfortunately, time is running out. Bafana will be thrust on centre stage in less than nine months and desperate measures are needed. The worst possible move would be to remove Santana after all he has done to steady the squad. After all, Safa has dropped the axe on too many quality coaches (13 over the past 15 years) since re-admission, which is the main reason why the 1996 African Cup of Nations champions lost their way so badly.

The quick-fix solution is to provide Santana with a heavyweight co-manager and who better than the man who earmarked him for the job in the first place. There is growing speculation that former coach Carlos Parreira, who threw in the towel for personal reasons, may be interested in finishing off the job he started three years ago.

Parreira who reportedly secured an agreement with Safa that he could still serve as a technical advisor is noted for having been one of only two coaches that has led four national teams to the World Cup. He and Santana are from the same school of soccer that has seen Brazil establish itself as the powerhouse of the game. This cannot be overlooked — a Brazilian dream team could save Bafana.