Fresh from his successful coaching stint with the Egyptian national side, Roger de Sa flies out to Tehran on Monday to join Carlos Queiroz as assistant coach of the Iranian national side ahead of their Fifa World Cup campaign.
This will be the fourth time that De Sa lands a job in a national team, and his second working with a national squad through a World Cup campaign.
With just weeks until kick-off in Qatar, the coaches will spend a few days in Tehran with the squad ahead of friendlies in Austria, which will help them select the final squad for their Group B match against England on November 21.
De Sa is pleased to be heading to another World Cup.
“Once you qualify for the World Cup, you give yourself a realistic chance, and with the tournament being held in Qatar, it evens it out a bit more because you are not playing in Europe, you are not playing in South America, so it is almost a neutral venue,” said De Sa.
“The heat and humidity will be a challenge for many of the players in the tournament. We have a short time to prepare, not ideal. Ideally we would have been there for a year but Carlos knows the team and the players know him, as he coached them in the last two World Cups.”
The gruelling schedule starts on Tuesday when they assemble in Tehran.
“Wednesday and Thursday we start training with the team. Saturday we train again, and then we fly out to Austria where we play Uruguay and Senegal. We return to Iran where we continue the scouting process with the team.
“These two games will give us a good idea. I may fly to Europe to watch some of the players with their clubs, and we will probably train in Dubai for a week before we go to Qatar.”
De Sa started his coaching career with Bidvest Wits after a successful playing career that saw him as the goalkeeper for Bafana Bafana, Mamelodi Sundowns, Moroko Swallows and Wits.
He went on to coach Orlando Pirates, Ajax Cape Town and Platinum Stars among others, working as Bafana goalkeeper coach when Queiroz was with the team from 2000-2002.
The pair worked together again in 2010 when Queiroz coached Portugal in the 2010 Fifa World Cup, and he called on De Sa to join him in 2021 when he worked with the Egyptian national side.
“We had a nine-month gig there. When we were called in to work with Egypt, they were out of the top 20 in Africa, which is unusual for a country like Egypt, so they were struggling and we managed to get some good results early on.
“We made it to the final of the Afcon [Africa Cup of Nations], beating a lot of top teams to reach the final, which we lost to Senegal on a penalty shootout. We over-achieved in the Cup of Nations; by the time we finished, we were fourth or fifth in Africa. We beat Morrocco, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, the host team.
“The World Cup qualifier, we unfortunately lost again to Senegal in a penalty shootout. Our goal was to qualify for the World Cup, which we did not achieve. We have left a good vibe in Egypt but I could not commit long-term to staying there.”
De Sa is one of just a handful of athletes to have represented his country in three sports, and in the same year played soccer, indoor soccer and basketball for South Africa.
He sees himself as a friend to the players. “When I become a coach, priority number one is that I am a human being and so is the player – that is number one. I think Carlos is the same. Many coaches forget that, I think. I will be their coach for a year or two maybe, but we can be friends until we die.”
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