World Cup hosts South Africa fired coach Joel Santana on Monday after eight losses in nine matches, a national soccer association spokesman said.
The 60-year-old Brazilian tasked with building a team capable of holding its own at the 2010 tournament paid the price for a string of poor results and consistent refusal to accept criticism of his hyper-cautious underperformers.
After 1-0 defeats at European middleweights Norway and Iceland last week, the man appointed in the middle of last year said he had not been hired to win friendlies. Many South African Football Association (SAFA) officials considered this comment an insult to the nation and it became an issue of when rather than if he would be axed.
PHOTO: EPA
A SAFA statement said: “It was unanimously agreed on Monday between the South African Football Association and senior national coach Joel Santana that he would vacate his position with immediate effect. In the interim the SAFA management committee resolved that [assistant coaches] Jairo Leal and Pitso Mosimane would assume the role of caretakers, pending a decision by the national executive at an October 23 meeting.”
Santana was under pressure from his debut, a 2-0 away loss to Nigeria in a 2010 World Cup African Nations Cup qualifier.
He later managed a run of five consecutive friendly victories, mainly against second-string African opposition, and received a surprisingly friendly media reception for finishing fourth as 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup hosts.
South Africa won just one of five games in the mini-World Cup, against minnows New Zealand.
Predecessor Carlos Alberto Parreira of Brazil and Dutchman Leon Beenhakker are among foreigners linked with the post, but South Africa may opt for a local coach like Gavin Hunt from premier league champions SuperSport United.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just
CLASH OF MANAGERS: Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Russell Martin of Southampton accused each other of disrespect, while both were booked Southampton on Friday were denied a priceless victory by a controversial decision as they drew with hosts Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 in the Premier League. Kaoru Mitoma spectacularly headed Brighton into a first-half lead and Flynn Downes hammered home an equalizer an hour in. Minutes later teammate Cameron Archer converted a cross from Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. A video assistant referee check of more than four minutes eventually decided that Archer was onside, but then penalized Adam Armstrong, who was offside, but did not touch the ball, for interfering with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I find it hard to accept,” Southampton manager Russell Martin
RSS