Friday, August 11, 2006

Safa not sure when Parreira will arrive

Bafana Bafana's coach-in-waiting Carlos Alberto Parreira will definitely not be in Windhoek for next week's friendly between South Africa and Namibia.

In fact, South African Football Association CEO Raymond Hack admitted on Thursday that he did not know when Parreira would be arriving in South Africa, and that Safa had yet to apply for a work permit for their new man.

All this adds a new, bizarre twist to the turtle-like pace with which Parreira is being installed into his new post.

With Bafana's 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign starting in September, one would have thought Safa would be making Parreira's arrival their number one priority.

Instead, it seems they are leaving Parreira's arrival on these shores entirely up to the man himself.

"He won't be here in the next week," said Hack on Thursday.

"In truth, I can't tell you when he will be arriving. He hasn't decided yet.

"There are contractual matters and we haven't applied for a work permit yet."

All this appears to give greater credence to earlier reports from Brazil that Parreira would rather take the job in 2007 than with immediate effect.

Germany were able to install a new coach immediately after Jürgen Klinsmann's resignation. As were Italy after Marcello Lippi stepped down and Argentina when José Peckerman quit his job.

But for Safa it seems the rules are always different. When will the dithering end?

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