Bafana Bafana fans have slammed SAFA for missing out on Lionel Messi slayer coach, Herve Renard following his heroics of guiding minnows Saudi Arabia to a 2-1 win over a star studded Argentina in the World Cup.
Fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment that SAFA had missed out on the French coach, shortly after he pulled off the first upset of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, with a stunning victory over Argentina’s galaxy of stars, that include captain Messi and Angel Di Maria.
Keke Mashile Tweeted: “@Safa Net has absolutely (been) hiring people who aren’t coaches, this man is a winner and we once had a chance to make him coach, salute Herve Renard (sic).”
More fans weighed in and even took aim at SAFA President Danny Jordaan for missing out on the giant killing coach.
“As long as we still have Danny Jordaan as Safa President, we ain’t going anywhere,” wrote Lesley Segashwane.
@ChrisExcel 102 told his 1.3m Twitter followers that: “We will keep supporting other countries in World Cups until we remove politicians who don’t know anything about football in Safa boardroom.”
The anger of the fans stems from last year, when speculation was rife that Bafana Bafana had shortlisted the double Africa Cup of Nations winning coach as a replacement for Molefi Ntseki. The football mother body however settled for Hugo Broos after Renard had dismissed links to the Bafana job as “distasteful” to his Saudi Arabia employers.
A Twitter user going with the handle @tuse11 remains optimistic that SAFA can still sign Renard after the World Cup.
“How did you lose out on this man @Safa_net and @BafanaBafana. We called on you to sign this man after he won the Africa Cup of Nations for Zambia. Please get him to qualify for World Cup 2026 before it’s too late,” tweeted Tuse11.
The 54-year-old Renard is a tactical genius who won the 2012 AFCON with a depleted Zambia side. In 2015, he also led a Yaya Toure captained Ivory Coast to AFCON victory. He raised his profile even further in 2018, when he qualified Morocco for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
Fast foward to the ongoing Qatar 2022 World Cup, and the Renard-coached Saudi Arabia kick off their tournament with a shocker over Messi’s Argentina.
Can SAFA still afford a coach with such a CV?
That is the big question.
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Messi and Argentina Suffer Biggest Upset in World Cup History
