The South African Football Association (Safa) has included no measurable performance assessment plan in the lucrative four-year contract signed by Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira this week. And Safa has no road map or turnaround strategy for the struggling national team in the run-up to hosting the World Cup in 2010.
Speaking at the conference in Sandton this week to introduce the R2-million-a-month man to the media, Safa CEO Raymond Hack was vague about the terms and conditions of Parreira’s job. He also failed to explain how the association would monitor the coach’s progress.
Asked whether Parreira was expected to win any tournaments leading up to 2010, Hack responded: “The goal of the association is to ensure that South Africa is able to produce a world-class team for 2010. Obviously, if there are other ways to achieve this — such as by winning other tournaments — that is fantastic.”
It is now also obvious that Safa officials failed to brief Parreira about the state of the game in South Africa. It is a matter for speculation whether this was done deliberately to conceal unpleasant realities from the Brazilian because they were desperate to have him agree to come here, or whether they did not have the time to do so.
But it may come back to haunt the football administrators. If Parreira fails to deliver, he may use this lack of forewarning as an excuse. Parreira was in South Africa with his assistant Jairo Leal for seven days, and certain aspects of the local game clearly baffled him. He said in one moment of unguarded honesty: “I was astonished, amazed, when I heard that there is no league for under-20, 18 and 16. I never [considered asking] this question.”
The well-travelled Parreira made some key suggestions concerning the rebuilding of the national team, ranging from the limitation of foreign players in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to the introduction of a reserve league.
What should be of concern is that he emphatically distanced himself from direct involvement with grassroots football. “The building of the youth teams [is] not my job, not my task. It is up to the national association and clubs.”
His focus, he said, was 2010, but added South Africa should “act quickly” on his suggestions. Parreira would not divulge his exact strategy for confronting the problems, choosing instead to highlight few areas of concern.
He also would not put a time frame to his plans, saying only that some of his ideas were still being discussed with Safa officials. All will be revealed when he officially assumes his duties in February — so another six months will go by before plans can be initiated and deadlines for projects finalised.
And the Brazilian has yet to be confronted by the glacial pace of progress in South African football. The idea of a reserve league, for example, has been a matter of great debate for many years without ever coming close to implementation. Yet everyone seems to believe that this will suddenly happen just because one man — worth R2-million a month — says so.
Parreira would not expand on the significance of a reserve league more than emphatically saying: “It’s vital. At least we should have one under-20 reserve league. I believe they have to act quite quickly.”
It could be that he is well aware that some of the things he is suggesting are unrealistic given the time and manpower available, and is already looking for loopholes that would come in handy should he fail.
He was quick to point out that he would leave the country if he thinks the association is not playing ball — giving early notice that this may be a marriage made in hell.
Meanwhile, Parriera is heading for another potential pitfall as three of the top men in South African football — Chiefs boss Kaizer Motaung, Cosmos owner Jomo Sono and PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza — foment discord over the control of the national football team.