Sports / Soccer
Bafana Bafana coach proud of his record after failing to progress
20 Jan 2014 at 11:00hrs | Views
Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund says he was not under pressure to reach the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship (Chan) and is proud of his record since he took over as national coach.
"From a personal point-of-view, I had no mandate for this competition. We wanted to do as best as we could," Igesund said after South Africa crashed out of the continental competition following a heavy 3-1 defeat to Nigeria in their final group A clash at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.
"I'm at peace with myself and I'm at peace with where we are at the moment.
"Whatever SAFA need to do - whatever they want to do and if they think it's time for a change - I can live with that."
Needing a draw to secure their spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Bafana soon fell behind and were down 3-0 before Bernard Parker got one back via the penalty spot.
"If I had to leave tomorrow, I'd say I've done a very good job. I've achieved what I've wanted to achieve and there's still lots of work to be done. It's still a work in progress," he said.
"It's not in my hands. I work for people and tomorrow I'll go to work and continue. I have a job to do and we'll just keeping working hard and start helping to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations."
Igesund shifted his attention beyond the tournament to the bigger picture and took the opportunity to focus on some of the positives he and the team had achieved since he took over as national coach two years ago and said he still had plenty to offer SAFA in the future.
"Somewhere along the line, whenever you get employed, you get employed to be fired eventually at some time but I'm quite happy where I am," Igesund said.
"We have played 28 games, we've won 14 of those, that's 50 percent. We've lost seven and we've drawn seven.
"Along the way we've beaten Spain and we've scored 40 goals. So we are still working and going forward. There have been huge improvements in our football, which I'm quite happy about.
"Obviously this is a great opportunity for people to get on and say whatever they want to say, but that's fine. If you look at the record, I'm quite happy with it and there aren't many records better than that at the moment."
"From a personal point-of-view, I had no mandate for this competition. We wanted to do as best as we could," Igesund said after South Africa crashed out of the continental competition following a heavy 3-1 defeat to Nigeria in their final group A clash at Cape Town Stadium on Sunday.
"I'm at peace with myself and I'm at peace with where we are at the moment.
"Whatever SAFA need to do - whatever they want to do and if they think it's time for a change - I can live with that."
Needing a draw to secure their spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Bafana soon fell behind and were down 3-0 before Bernard Parker got one back via the penalty spot.
"If I had to leave tomorrow, I'd say I've done a very good job. I've achieved what I've wanted to achieve and there's still lots of work to be done. It's still a work in progress," he said.
"It's not in my hands. I work for people and tomorrow I'll go to work and continue. I have a job to do and we'll just keeping working hard and start helping to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations."
Igesund shifted his attention beyond the tournament to the bigger picture and took the opportunity to focus on some of the positives he and the team had achieved since he took over as national coach two years ago and said he still had plenty to offer SAFA in the future.
"Somewhere along the line, whenever you get employed, you get employed to be fired eventually at some time but I'm quite happy where I am," Igesund said.
"We have played 28 games, we've won 14 of those, that's 50 percent. We've lost seven and we've drawn seven.
"Along the way we've beaten Spain and we've scored 40 goals. So we are still working and going forward. There have been huge improvements in our football, which I'm quite happy about.
"Obviously this is a great opportunity for people to get on and say whatever they want to say, but that's fine. If you look at the record, I'm quite happy with it and there aren't many records better than that at the moment."
Source - Sapa
