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Last chance for Igesund?

Auckland - Despite Bafana Bafana’s heroic performance against Australia on Monday, coach Gordon Igesund could be on the sidelines for the last time when his charges face New Zealand in another friendly on Friday.

Bafana’s youthful team played to a 1-1 draw against the Socceroos’ in Sydney, which saw the team earn praise from Igesund and the country’s football fraternity despite the unavailability of nine key players who withdrew from the Australasian tour.

Friday’s encounter is most likely to be an end of the 57-year-old’s tenure as the national coach, as his two-year contract is due to elapse at the end of July.

The former Moroka Swallows mentor endured plenty of criticism for failing to reach all his mandates from the South African Football Association (SAFA) since taking over the reigns from Pitso Mosimane, who was sacked in July 2012.

Under Igesund, Bafana failed to book a spot at the upcoming Soccer World Cup in Brazil, while also failing to reach the semi-finals of the 2013 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on home soil, losing to Mali 3-1 on penalties at the quarter-final stage.

Most notably, Igesund failed to guide his team to the knockout stages in the third edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) despite once again playing host to the event.

SAFA president Danny Jordan also travelled with the national team to Australia and is expected to miss the All Whites clash as he is heading back to South Africa for a meeting with the national executive committee headed by Natasha Tsichlas on Saturday.

The meeting’s agenda will be to decide on the future of the most decorated coach in the history of South African football.

A source inside SAFA House has revealed to Sport24 that a decision regarding Igesund’s fate will be made after this week's two friendly matches.

The national Under-20 coach, Shakes Mashaba, is said to be the favourite to succeed Igesund at the helm of Bafana should SAFA decide not to give former Manning Rangers and Santos coach another lifeline.
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