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The 10 questions slippery Santana won't answer
Bareng-Batho Kortjaas
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Ducking and diving: Joel Santana should
be teaching his Bafana Bafana players to evade their opponents with
as much skill as he evades interviews. Picture: Puxley Makgatho.
(thetimes.co.za)
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Bafana coach becomes ever more skilful in avoiding contact
with media.
In June, after his only victory so far for South Africa, coach Joel Santana
asked the media for a 'massage' instead of the lashing he received for
an earlier defeat to Nigeria.
That was the last we heard from him publicly.
Ever since, he has been ducking and diving the media, making no effort
to explain his vision for the team .
Five months into the job, Santana has steered Bafana to three defeats
in qualifying matches for the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
This lack of success makes him the first South Africa coach to fail to
qualify for the Nations Cup since 1996.
We still don't know about Santana's coaching philosophy. What we do know
is that he is a defensive whizz with the press, showing the sharp prowess
we wish his players possessed.
The Sunday Times had arranged to interview Santana on Friday. Not for
the first time, it was cancelled. These are the questions he refuses to
answer:
1 How do you conduct team talks, given your limited grasp of English ?
2 If you are building for 2010, why do you continue picking squads with
two strikers who are well over 30 in Sibusiso Zuma and Benni McCarthy?
3 What did Katlego Mashego and Terror Fanteni do that they deserve to
be banished from the squad in favour of the over-the-hill Zuma-McCarthy
duo?
4 What did you know about SA soccer before coming here, except that Carlos
Alberto Parreira was the coach of Bafana Bafana?
5 Why did you accept the job when you had no credentials as a national
coach? Was it the lure of money, given that you told the vice-president
of your former club that you would earn in 30 months in SA what you would
earn in 30 years in Brazil?
6 Why do you use the 2010 'bigger picture' as an excuse for your failure
to qualify for Angola?
7 What are your plans for Bafana Bafana for 2010?
8 Shouldn't you have spent the first month in your job in SA - a valuable
opportunity to get to know your players - instead of in Brazil?
9 Do you wish Parreira was at your side now, considering things are not
going well?
10 You tell us to have faith - why should we believe you?
thetimes.co.za,
Sep 28, 2008
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