Neal Collins: Mashaba sacking a joke
Football reporter Neal Collins has questioned the timing of the decision by the South African Football Association (SAFA) to sack coach Shakes Mashaba.
SAFA confirmed Mashaba's sacking this morning after placing him on suspension earlier this month.
The suspension followed last month's incident in Polokwane after the match between Bafana Bafana and Senegal where Mashaba was involved in a row with the media. He also publicly criticised SAFA president Danny Jordaan.
Collins says despite a lack of tactical acumen, Mashaba reached the goals set for him by SAFA for the first two World Cup 2018 qualifiers.
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"He had to get four points from his two World Cup qualifiers - and he got those four points. He beat Senegal, Africa's highest ranked nation. I know that it was dodgy. I know that since then, the Ghanaian referee Jonathan Lamptey has been suspended for three months for giving that penalty that gave South Africa the win. But let's be honest, he beat Senegal. To sack him after that, for wagging his finger at (SAFA CEO) Dennis Mumble and (SAFA president) Danny Jordaan, who have been very unsupportive.. it's just a joke," says Collins.
Meanwhile, Mumble says besides the disciplinary issues, Bafana Bafana's performances on the field have also left a lot to be desired.
"You know we have to think about support for this team and unfortunately the trajectory that we were on did not lend itself to building that support, and keeping the team in a more positive environment. That is really the reason why we had to act now."
Bafana's next World Cup qualifier is against Cape Verde in August next year, which leaves SAFA with plenty of time to appoint a successor to Mashaba. Collins believes SAFA has already identified its preferred candidate.
"Hopefully we'll get a new man in charge. And that new man is of course Uganda's coach Milutin Sredojevic, the Serbian, who's already lined up. That's why Shakes was fired."