Pitso Mosimane (File)

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Johannesburg - Pitso Mosimane was named national coach of South Africa on Thursday in succession to Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira.

The announcement at a SAFA news conference in Johannesburg was widely expected as Mosimane has been a Bafana Bafana assistant coach for four years.

Hosts South Africa were eliminated in the first round of the just completed World Cup after drawing with Mexico, losing heavily to Uruguay and defeating France.

Parreira, coach of the 1994 Brazil World Cup-winning team, indicated when he took control of South Africa a second time last November that he would step down after the World Cup.

Mosimane faces a difficult immediate challenge with South Africa in the same 2012 African Nations Cup qualifying group as defending champions Egypt, Sierra Leone and Niger.

Egypt have won the last three Nations Cup tournaments and west Africa minnows Sierra Leone triumphed at home and drew away when they faced South Africa in qualifiers for the 2010 African tournament.

Long-time whipping boys Niger showed dramatic improvement this year with the national team qualifying for the local footballers-only African Nations Championship in Sudan next year at the expense of Nigeria.

Mosimane signed a four-year contract which also covers the 2013 African Nations Cup in Libya and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

He inherits from Parreira a team ranked joint 66 in the world beside Macedonia and 12 in Africa behind powerhouses like Egypt, 2010 World Cup quarter-finalists Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Mosimane is a former Bafana Bafana striker who sprang to coaching prominence at Pretoria club SuperSport United early this decade after succeeding former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.

He has hinted that South Africa should use two strikers rather than the one favoured by Parreira while several pundits believe axing error-prone centreback and captain Aaron Mokoena is a priority.

South Africa play a friendly match on August 11 before opening their Nations Cup campaign at home to Niger the following month and travelling to Sierra Leone during October.