Roger De Sa's shock resignation from Maritzburg United on Thursday has re-fuelled speculation that the coach could be eyeing a place on the Bafana Bafana technical team.
Maritzburg are searching for their third coach in just over four months after their latest hire‚ De Sa‚ abruptly quit three months into the job citing “family reasons.”
The Bafana head coaching seat has sparked a frenzy of speculation since it was vacated by Ephraim ‘‘Shakes” Mashaba‚ who was fired in December after a lengthy disciplinary hearing.
The South African Football Association (Safa) are expected to announce the new coach at the end of March or in early April after the two friendly matches against Guinea-Bissau in Durban on Saturday and Angola in East London on Tuesday.
- Big trouble for Bafana if Mokotjo is declared ineligible after playing for SAThe South African Football Association (Safa) could face a monetary fine and Bafana Bafana can be stripped of the result should Kamohelo Mokotjo be fielded in the upcoming friendlies and the player is proved to be ineligible.
De Sa's name has been repeatedly mentioned as one of the coaches gunning for the head coaching job or as one of the members of the technical team.
But De Sa's representative Steve Kapeluschnik moved swiftly to downplay the former Orlando Pirates and Ajax Cape Town boss's link to Bafana.
“His resignation has nothing to do with him being in contact with Safa or anyone over a coaching job. It's purely for family reasons‚” said Kapeluschnik on Thursday.
Asked if De Sa has ever been in contact with Safa over the coaching job in the last four months‚ Kapeluschnik said: “I'm not going to answer such kind of questions. The bottom line is that Roger's resignation if purely for family commitments.”
- Home Affairs confident of resolving 'Dutchman' Kamohelo Mokotjo debacleSouth Africa’s department of Home Affairs are confident that they can solve the eligibility issue surrounding Kamohelo Mokotjo to enable him to play for Bafana Bafana against Guinea-Bissau on Saturday‚ a spokesman told Times Media Digital on Wednesday.
De Sa took over the Maritzburg reins from caretaker coach Fadlu Davids in January on a six-month contract with a two-year option to renew after replacing Ernst Middendorp‚ who quit in late November.
Maritzburg said in a statement that family commitments back in Cape Town influenced De Sa's decision to quit.
De Sa leaves Maritzburg in 10th spot on the Absa Premiership standings with 23 points from 21 matches.
In his seven matches in charge of Maritzburg in all competitions‚ De Sa's record reads: one win‚ one draw and five losses.
Some of the names linked to the Bafana job include Frenchman Herve Renard (Nations Cup winner with Zambia in 2012 and Ivory Coast in 2015)‚ SuperSport United's Stuart Baxter‚ Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt and ex-Pirates mentor Ruud Krol.
- TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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