Santana's payout will remain confidential
The 66-year-old Brazilian quit the job in April last year when his wife became ill. He recommended that his friend, Joel Santana, take over, but Santana was sacked by the SA Football Association yesterday after the national team's recent poor performances.
GALLERY: Former bafana coaches: 1992-present
Now, in a Bafana coaching merry-go-round, Parreira is set to return and take the team to the World Cup next year.
The strongest evidence of a Parreira return is that Safa has retained his Brazilian assistant, Jairo Leal. Leal had been Parreira's right-hand man for a long time.
Parreira's return has been speculated on since August last year, when the Sunday Times published a front-page report headlined "Parreira to the rescue".
It came after an inauspicious start to the Bafana job by his successor, Santana. Last week, the speculation started anew after Santana lost yet another match, this time to Iceland. It was Bafana's eighth defeat in nine matches and the national team's world ranking slumped to 85th position - a 16-year low.
Parreira was recently sacked by Brazilian club Fluminese, where he had been working as an adviser since leaving South Africa, so it's not as if he would need to give up current employment.
Last week, Parreira hinted about a return. He told the Brazilian press: "When I left last year, it was because of family problems. But all those are history now.
"I will comment further once I have received an official invitation from the federation [Safa]."
Yesterday's termination of Santana's job was announced by the chief executive of Safa, Raymond Hack, who said: "Mr Santana is no longer coach of the senior national team."
Santana's departure follows a nationwide outcry against the coach and a decision by the new Safa executive, under Kirsten Nematandani, to assess his tenure through three experienced local coaches, Jomo Sono, Gavin Hunt and Clive Barker.
But Nematandani had said that Santana would be given three games, the last to be played in November, before a decision on his future as Bafana coach was made.
Safa vice-president Mwelo Nonkonyana said yesterday Bafana needed a "Messiah" to take the team to the World Cup next year - and did not rule out Parreira's return to the team.
"As far as we are concerned, we have not started negotiations with Parreira, but we are open to anyone coming forward and availing themselves because we do not have time on our side," he said in an interview on Metro FM last night.
Nonkonyana said the association had ended Santana's contract "amicably", but the payout would remain confidential.
The Brazilian's monthly salary was R1.4-million.
Nonkonyana said Leal and Pitso Mosimane will, with immediate effect, assume the role of caretaker coaches pending Friday's announcement.
Neil Tovey, who captained Bafana to win the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996, said Santana's exit was not a solution to the national team's problems.
"Obviously he [Santana] was under a lot of pressure, but will a change in coaches solve the problem? I don't think so. We have to look at how the running of soccer in this country can be improved, from youth development to coaching of coaches."
Though Tovey could not be drawn into speculating who was likely to take over from Santana, he said Bafana's successor would have to be someone who had achieved success with a national team before.
* Meanwhile, Safa vice-president Mwelo Nonkonyana has admitted the decision to dump Santana was taken before South Africa's soccer bosses had looked at the assessment report compiled by Jomo Sono, Gavin Hunt and Clive Barker.
Speaking on Talk Radio 702 this morning, Nonkonyana denied that Santana was fired, repeating the mantra that it was an "amicable agreement".
He said that South Africa needed to find a coach to take Bafana Bafana to "new and greater heights".
A report in IOL however, states that the meeting was not as amicable as Safa would have us believe. Santana is said to have been pushed out by Safa at a meeting yesterday. During the meeting Santana had admitted that he was out of his depth. The Brazilian admitted that he had run out of ideas to improve the performances of the national team.
The dismissal still surprised Santana. "He had no clue he would be fired when he went to work as usual. It took him completely by surprise," a Safa insider said.
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