South African based Manchester City fan, Mariner sent us the following Southern Hemisphere update.
When I started these reports on the build up to 2010 I anticipated maybe one article per month or thereabouts. Unfortunately the soap opera that is South African Football rolls on and on and…
It now appears the coach, Joel Santana has, if indeed he ever had it, lost all contact with the coaches and teams that make up the Premier League here. Santana’s English is poor so communication is a problem, but Roger Da Sa, ex-South African goalkeeper and now a coach himself, plus being an excellent Portuguese speaker says Santana has never spoken to him or watched his team play. This seems to be the case with the other top teams as well.
Now, quite obviously SAFA has lost patience after Santana his squad departed for Norway and Iceland. They have now appointed a task team of three men, all of whom are among Santana’a strongest critics. Gavin Hunt, Clive Barker and Jomo Sono’o follow the team and report on morale, training and performance. Officially, Santana has been told nothing but the papers here are full of it. Surely he has to be aware of what is going on. Even two wins, if they are anything like the Madagascar fiasco may not be enough to save him now.
The first game is against Norway on Saturday and should prove interesting
Meanwhile, the newspapers are full of letters from supporters of the team pleading for the warring factions to all pull in the same direction for once.
Makes for an interesting week.
To read Mariner’s World Cup Countdown # 4, click here.
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