PAINE TO HELP SA FIND COACH
Former England international Terry Paine has been asked by South
Africa to help decide on their next national coach from a list
that includes former England manager Glenn Hoddle, the Frenchman
Roger Lemerre and former Italian international Gianluca Vialli.
The former Southampton winger, who was a member of the 1966 World
Cup winning squad, is a member of a five-man selection team put
together by the South African Football Association at a meeting
in Johannesburg on Saturday.
They have been tasked with finding a coach by May 1, one month
before South Africa start their 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Officials said an extensive list of candidates had been put together
for the position, which will offer a two-year contract up until
the end of the 2006 World Cup finals.
Others named by South African officials include former Leeds United
manager Howard Wilkinson and Roy Hodgson, the Englishman who took
Switzerland to the World Cup finals in 1994 and was fired last
month as coach of the United Arab Emirates.
Lemerre last month took Tunisia to the African Nations Cup title
and was expected to sign a contract extension with the new African
champions in the next weeks.
Fellow Frenchman Pierre Lechantre, who was at the helm when Cameron
won the African Nations Cup title in 2000, is also on the list
of prospective candidates, officials said.
The inclusion of Paine on the selection list suggests officials
are keen to hire a coach from Britain for the first time.
Paine has lived in South Africa for the last 20 years and was
a coach in the country’s first division before becoming a television
pundit.
South Africa have had 10 national team coaches in just over a
decade of international competition, all but two of them locals.
In January, South Africa fired Ephraim Mashaba on the eve of the
team’s departure for Tunisia and replaced him with his assistant
Styles Phumo.
South Africa did not make it past the first round in Tunisia --
the first time in five successive Nations Cup tournaments that
they have not made the quarter-final stage at the continental
championship.