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Johannesburg - Safa is hoping to have a new coach by the end of next month.
Anastasia Tsichlas, chairperson of the technical committee, which is responsible for searching and recommending the new coach to the national executive committee, told City Press that they had not started the short-listing process as yet.
The committee met last Saturday to start the process of replacing Ephraim Shakes Mashaba, but Tsichlas said they were awaiting the return of president Danny Jordaan from the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.
“We are yet to discuss names of potential coaches. I see some coaches are trying to market themselves already in the media and there is nothing wrong with that except that they are going about it the wrong way.”
Tsichlas said they had added winning the Cosafa Cup to the list of mandates for the new coach.
This is on top of qualifying for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia and the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon a year later.
Passionate about game
On the issue of Banyana Banyana, Tsichlas said she would be comfortable with Desiree Ellis taking over the job on a full-time basis.
She said the former Banyana captain and her assistant Maud Khumalo, who have been in charge of the team since the departure of Vera Pauw, had done well and should continue in the job.
“We need to give our women the opportunity to prove themselves and I have no doubt that we have excellent coaches in the country who can do the job. We have to develop more because there are so many of them out there who are passionate about the game.”
She believes her committee has made significant strides, particularly in the refereeing department.
“We have listened to the criticisms regarding the review committee and now the committee sits every Tuesday and Thursday to go through all the matches.
“This will help to alleviate the backlog as we can deal with cases as they come,” Tsichlas said.
However, she said they still experienced challenges with the National First Division because of a lack of match tapes.
But she was confident they would get it right soon and were working with SuperSport to get footage of relevant matches.
Work goes unnoticed
Tsichlas also said they were happy that Neil Tovey had returned to work after suffering a heart attack late last year.
“He is fit and looking good. He was there in our meeting and we are happy to see him back.
“We really need his services as he is knowledgeable about the game and also passionate about development.”
She said there were a number of noteworthy proceedings happening behind the scenes which the public did not know about.
“We cannot make noise about our responsibilities but sometimes I feel sad that so much of our work goes unnoticed.”
She was still concerned about the alleged corruption happening in the ABC Motsepe League.
She said clubs and officials should come forward with any information relating to corrupt activities in the league.
“There is still a lot to be done in this league but we have encouraged clubs to provide us with information and proof so we can act against these corrupt officials.”
