Friendly failures may spell end for SAfrica coach

World Cup hosts South Africa could dump Brazilian coach Joel Santana if they suffer embarrassing friendly defeats in Norway Saturday and Iceland three days later.

Santana has been under public, media and official fire after six losses in seven outings with the sole success coming via a solitary goal at home to African featherweights Madagascar last month.

The national football association reacted by naming three “assessors” – former national coaches Clive Barker and Jomo Sono and top South African Premiership coach Gavin Hunt – to report on the national team.

This heightened a rumour mill already awash with names of possible new coaches, including Santana predecessor Carlos Alberto Parreira and recently fired Poland coach Leon Beenhakker.

While some believe it is far too late for the South African ship to change skippers, they ignore a history of last-minute upheaval ahead of World Cup tournaments.

Fiery Frenchman Philippe Troussier replaced Barker just three months before the 1998 World Cup in his homeland and Sono succeeded Portuguese Carlos Queiroz 12 weeks ahead of the 2002 tournament.

South Africa were eliminated after the first round on both occasions, failed to reach the 2006 finals in Germany, and made it to 2010 because the host nation qualifies automatically.

National association spokesman Raymond Hack attempted to douse the flames of discontent this week by saying the future of 200,000-dollar-a-month Santana had not even been discussed.

But well-placed sources speaking on condition of anonymity suggested the 60-year-old Brazilian who rarely speaks English publicly is already on the plank, sharks are circling, and what happens in northern Europe is irrelevant.

Experienced midfield enforcer Benson Mhlongo raised a serious concern: “The players are aware of the pressure. I can handle it but I’m worried about the younger members of our squad.”

And striker Katlego Mphela conceded Santana media speculation was affecting morale: “Talk about the coach has become such a distraction for us. Things are so intense sometimes we do not know what to expect the next day.”

Anger at the coach with no national team experience before taking charge of Bafana Bafana (The Boys) in mid-2008 soared after losses in Germany and the Republic of Ireland last month.

No realistic South African supporter expected a team ranked 73 in the world to win in Leverkusen but the timid 2-0 surrender only emboldened the anti-Santana brigade, as did a one-goal defeat in Limerick three days later.

Up against a virtual Irish B team, Bafana enjoyed 70 percent possession without managing to create a single clearcut chance and a first-half goal direct from a free kick settled a lacklustre friendly.

The ‘charge sheet’ against Santana, whose only competitive victories in 11 games have come against Equatorial Guinea and New Zealand, centres on a defence that cannot keep clean sheets and an attack blunter than a rusty knife.

Lady luck jilts Santana, too. When Mphela scored twice against mighty Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup third-place play-off, uncharacteristic blunders by goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune condemned the host nation to a 3-2 loss.

South Africa defeated Norway 2-1 in scorching Rustenburg last March but are likely to find the reception in Oslo cooler all round while a previous visit to Reykjavik ended in a humiliating 4-1 reverse.