South Africa have reappointed Carlos Alberto Parreira as coach to replace compatriot Joel Santana.
Familiar face returns to coach World Cup hosts
South Africa have reappointed Carlos Alberto Parreira as coach to replace compatriot Joel Santana who quit the post on Monday.
The Brazilian returns to the 2010 World Cup hosts despite his shock decision to leave the position 18 months ago for personal reasons.
He has signed an eight-month deal until the end of next year's finals with his immediate task being to try to halt a poor run of form that has seen Bafana Bafana lose eight of their last nine games.
Desperate to rediscover some form ahead of next summer's finals, South Africa are gambling on a familiar face to reverse their fortunes.
Official line
"It was not easy for this executive committee to arrive at this decision," Kirsten Nematandani, the South African Football Association president told the media.
"I am pleased on behalf of the executive committee to announce to you that after that lengthy debate that we had, we want to announce that the country has a coach - and that coach is Mr Parreira.
"It does not only stop there and we felt that it was very important because of the time that we have to ensure that he comes in as soon as possible and takes the process forward.
"There were a number of candidates, but we felt that if we had to go through the process, we may run up against time.
"You will understand that this is a person that had started this process. The players we are looking at now are his players.
"We felt that logically after we didn't have time, it was best to get somebody who will continue with the process that he has started."
