South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira resigned on Monday to return to Brazil to be with his family and ill wife, leaving the national team in disarray just two years before the country hosts the 2010 World Cup.“It is heartbreaking to not have done this job until the end,” a somber-looking Parreira told a news conference. “My family needs me, especially my wife. They need me to be near her, together with her. So after 36 years of marriage, I cannot say no.”
Soccer federation president Molefi Oliphant backed Parreira’s decision to be with his wife, Leila.
“The coach has a dilemma, a family dilemma,” Oliphant said. “The health of his wife has deteriorated.”
PHOTO: AP
He did not elaborate.
Parreira led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title. He was hired 16 months ago after resigning as Brazil coach and put together a young and inexperienced South Africa team which had a series of poor results and was eliminated in the first round of the African Cup of Nations in Ghana earlier this year. South Africa slumped to 71st in the FIFA rankings.
But Parreira’s tactics of relying on domestic talent boosted by just a handful of foreign-based players like Blackburn’s Benni McCarthy seemed to be paying off when South Africa beat Paraguay 3-0 in a friendly last month.
Parreira said the team could still do well despite his departure.
“I am not happy with this decision. There is no winner. It’s not good for me to break this contract when things are going well, but the vision is there, the philosophy is there,” Parreira said. “If we keep on the same way, I am sure the team has the capacity to do well in the World Cup.”
Parreira’s resignation takes effect May 2. He will continue as technical adviser, and his two assistant coaches — Jairo Leal and Pitso Mosimane — will remain.
Parreira said he would help officials find a new coach.
No decision has been made on a new coach, but Oliphant said they were hoping to make an announcement on Parreira’s replacement early next month.
Parreira’s reported monthly salary of more than US$250,000 caused an outcry in a country battling poverty and unemployment. Oliphant said that the salary of the new coach would be “negotiable.”
Oliphant downplayed the disruption that the resignation would cause for Bafana Bafana.
“My view is that there is no crisis,” he said.
Reacting to the news of Parreira’s departure, FIFA president Sepp Blatter stressed the importance of finding a new coach to continue the preparations of the South African team.
“The recent performance of Bafana Bafana shows that the team is moving in the right direction and we hope that this will be a positive movement towards 2010,” Blatter said in a statement.
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