Pitso Mosimane to take over from Parreira

Jul 15, 2010, 17:20 GMT

Johannesburg - Pitso Mosimane was on Thursday appointed as the coach of the South African national team.

Brazilian-born Carlos Alberto Parreira did not renew his contract after Bafana Bafana became the first World Cup hosts to fail to advance past the first round at the World Cup last month.

Mosimane was appointed as assistant coach under Parreira in 2007 and the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) said in a statement Thursday that they had appointed Mosimane after all their internal processes were completed.

'SAFA President Kirsten Nematandani has acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead for the association and the new coach. Nematandani outlined the significance of qualifying for the upcoming international tournaments, namely the African Cup of Nations in 2012 and the 2014 World Cup,' the statement said.

'Our quest to become number one in the continent has started and the process is irreversible. Our latest improvement on the world rankings is an indication of the progress made, hence our decision to continue with the technical team that understand the significance of completing the long journey that we have started.

'We expect to qualify and do well in the upcoming Nations Cup and World Cup respectively,' said Nematandani.

Mosimane played for Jomo Cosmos, Mamelodi Sundwons and Orlando Pirates in South Africa and for Ionikos in Greece and Rita Berlaar in Belgium.

He also had a stint with Qatari club Al Saad and was capped four times for South Africa.

His coaching career saw him in charge of Supersport United before moving to the national side.

SAFA also announced that they would play a friendly against Ghana in Soccer City in Johannesburg on August 11 and a further friendly in November.

South Africa is in a group with Egypt, Niger and Sierra Leone for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers.