No need to get rid of Igesund - Safa boss

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has a contract until 2014 and intends to see it through.

Igesund said this after his side's 4-1 victory over Botswana in Durban on Saturday was not enough to progress to the final World Cup qualifying round.

And the coach has the backing of SA Football Association president Kirsten Nematandani, who said he saw no reason for the coach not to see his contract through.

"Gordon has a contract until 2014 and I don't see why we should be discussing the coach's future," Nematandani said. "In my own opinion he has done a very good job."

When he was appointed in June last year, Igesund's mandate from Safa was to reach the semifinals of this year's Africa Cup of Nations on home soil, and qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Bafana went out on penalties against Mali in the quarterfinals at the Afcon in February, and Igesund was retained because Safa said they were pleased with the national team's progress.

Igesund said he has not had any reaction to the contrary on Bafana's failure to qualify for Brazil 2014.

"I had a mandate to get us to the semifinals of the Africa Cup of Nations, and I didn't do that. I thought we might have been a bit unlucky to have lost on penalties," he coach said.

"And in the World Cup, I couldn't have done more than what I have - winning three out of four games. Whatever anyone wants to do or say, they're entitled to do that.

"I know that after the Afcon I was told by Safa that they were very happy with the way things were going and I should continue until 2014. So the way I see things, there are no mandates any more. I'm here until 2014, unless something else happens."

Now that Bafana have not qualified for Brazil 2014, calls will grow for Igesund to throw in the youngsters en masse.

But the coach maintains that the national team is not a development tool, and young talent needs to come through from more efficient feeder systems and successful youth team structures.

"Our under-17, u-20 and u-23 national teams need to be more competitive in the sense that we need to have competitions for them.

"They need to go and play in Europe and in tournaments against the best of the best," Igesund said.

"We need to get to a situation where these players progress from each level, and you don't have to spend months trying to show a player how to play as a playmaker, a winger or a wing-back.

"When they come through, they're seasoned, they've got international experience and they just need to get to the next level.

"This is not going to happen overnight. But I believe we have made progress already. We are in the process of finalising who will coach the national youth teams. We want top-class coaches.

"I know this is a short period, but I'm very ambitious and positive about a lot of things, and I think in the next 18 months to two years our rankings have got to be in the top 20 in the world, top three in Africa," Igesund said.

"Slowly but surely we've acknowledged our mistakes. We've got a [Safa Technical] Master Plan, and we're putting people and structures in place."