Johannesburg – Former Orlando Pirates legendary defender Edward “Magents” Motale has expressed his reservations about the hiring of a foreign coach to take Bafana Bafana through the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers starting in six weeks’ time.
The 1995 CAF Champions League and 1996 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) winning defender believes in hiring a local man, but he must be decorated with PSL trophies, and have two local co-coaches to assist him.
Motale said Kaizer Chiefs’ Gavin Hunt could be at the helm with two assistants, for an example.
“To be honest, I don’t know of any coach who could take Bafana forward, but we need a shortterm solution as the World Cup qualifiers are around the corner. We need people who know our players, as there’s no time for acclimatisation by a foreign coach,” said Motale.
“Politics must be put aside; we must put the country and the Bafana brand first. The cliques and stables will not do the country any good. Those in charge of football and Bafana must bury the hatchet with former Bafana players and local coaches for the sake of us booking a ticket to the World Cup.”
The Mamelodi, east of Pretoria- born Motale, who in his youth career played for Arcadia Shepherds and later professionally with Dynamos before joining Bucs, described his idea as “to gang up as a consortium of coaches”.
“We are going to war [against qualifier opponents Ghana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia], it’s a battle we must win, but time is not on our side. We don’t need someone who doesn’t know our talent and style of play.
“Nobody can start building Bafana as there is nothing to building on, we need to reconstruct the national team and no foreign coach can do that, but us.
“They don’t have the slightest idea about where to start.” The Champions League-winning Buccaneers captain was scathing on how foreign coaches have destroyed the South African- style football played during his heydays.
“Coaches come here to change our style – they’ve stifled our players to become robots, who just kick the ball without purpose. During my Bafana days, we used to dribble with purpose, something foreign coaches discourage.”
Another Bafana 1996 legend, keeper Roger De Sa concurred with Motale, saying not even the hiring of Pep Guardiola of Manchester City in the EPL can solve Bafana’s problems.
“It’s not a case of one person – the coach – but the whole SA football structure needs to be changed. From the Safa boardroom to the PSL players and coaches, the mindset towards Bafana must change.”
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