Under the helm of former Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba, there was an apparent synergy amongst all the junior coaches throughout the national team’s ranks.
The South African Football Association(Safa) employed a structure which saw all the coaches sitting on each other’s technical teams as well as the senior teams.
This strategy has proven highly successful as South Africa’s junior teams are currently experiencing a purple patch, qualifying for big tournaments. Despite the evident success, Safa president Danny Jordaan has confirmed that the new Bafana coach will be consulted with before a decision is made on whether to retain the current crop of junior and senior coaches.
“We have said that what is important is the structure and the continuity from Under-17 to U-20 to U-23 to the senior national team‚” Jordaan told The Times.
“I think (previously) a lot of our players got lost because there’s not that working relationship and the integration of the technical staff. So as a principle‚ we will stick to that principle.
“And secondly‚ we will have to discuss it with whoever the new coach is. The fact of the matter is Molefi Ntseki took the U-17s to South Africa’s first participation at the U-17 the World Cup,” Jordaan added.
“This period in our history is the most successful in terms of qualification and participation of all of our teams. The U-20s have just lost their crown of being U-20 Cosafa champions‚ and qualified for their World Cup.
“The U-23s – we were the only country on the continent to have had two teams (men and women) at the Olympics‚ and one of only eight in the world," he continued.
“So our teams have had great success – Ntseki‚ Thabo Senong as the U-20 coach‚ and [Owen Da Gama] with the U23s at the Rio Olympics.
“So there are tick marks behind their achievements in their particular category,” Jordaan concluded.
