World Cup 2010 Countdown # 4

South African based Manchester City fan, Mariner sent us the following.

To read his previous World Cup 2010 Countdown articles, click here.

Further to the rumblings regarding the new President of SAFA (South African Football Association) and his uneasy relationship with the Professional Footballers Association, it now seems that Joel Santana is on his last warning regarding Bafana's performances.

Four goals in the last seven games which include six losses and the one dreadful win against Madagascar has his tenure teetering on the edge. The four goals incidentally have all been scored by the same player and the need for some other forwards who can find the back of the net is critical.

Benni McCarthy is South Africa's all time leading goal scorer and there is massive pressure to bring him back, but does he even make the Blackburn first team these days? Eh no he doesn't.

Could be curtains?

The next couple of matches see the 2010 host country travel to the outer edges of the artic circle when they face Norway and Iceland. Bad results there will almost certainly be curtains for Santana.

Ironically, there are suggestions that his future successor could be his predecessor, Carlos Perrira, but surely they cannot be that desperate or stupid?

News in brief

The Head of delegation-hec who does all the welcoming of delegates to 2010 has been fired and replaced by a Jordaan supporter.

Meanwhile, the row between Athletics South Africa and the IAAF carries on over the gender issue of Ms Semanya. A meeting protesting the retention of the ASA chairman Lawrence Chuene, who lied about previous testing after the gold medal win in Berlin came to blows a couple of days ago and might yet result in a rift between the International and SA bodies. Not directly connected with the World Cup I know but symptomatic of the attitude of the SA ruling bodies to anything that could be remotely connected to racial issues.

And finally, it was reported in last Sunday's papers that the two men, Irving Khoza and Danny Jordaan, who have been and are most involved in the preparations for 2010 are not on speaking terms, which in itself speaks volumes.

The countdown continues.

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