At least Molefi Ntseki is used to it.
Imagine coming from another country and this was your first week as Bafana Bafana boss.
Foreigners are being murdered in the street and there are protests around the country against Gender Based Violence against women and children.
And then the opponents in your first game pull out of the friendly because of the troubles at home. Not once, but twice.
First Zambia sanctioned the team on Tuesday night because of the killings, then after Madagascar had stepped in on Wednesday morning, they decided that the best thing to do was to keep South Africa in isolation.
I was nogal looking forward to see Bafana Bafana kick off their new era this weekend.
Molefi Ntseki talks a pretty good game and I’m liking what I hear.
This week, the man who has been in the national set-up for so long stepped out of the shadows and into the limelight.
And a couple of things struck me about him - his thorough preparation and his willingness to learn. For me, these are great attributes for a leader.
POSITIVITY: Bafana Bafana boss Molefi Ntseki. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix.
Ntseki highlighted his use of former boss Stuart Baxter’s database of players to find the best players eligible.
Dubbed “player auditing”, it sounds like a detailed source of information.
If there really is something that forensic and scientific on the books at Safa, it can only be a good thing for a coach to have handy.
Then the former U17 coach said that he is keen to hear ideas from his PSL colleagues.
It’s extremely progressive that the new Bafana boss is not a know-it-all and can accept that his own ideas might not be the best.
Getting the right information is key to any success.
While the final decision will always be Ntseki’s, it’s refreshing that the coach has a cooperative nature. Perhaps it comes from knowing the value of an assistant's work.
While there are not many new faces in the current Bafana squad, it will be interesting to see if they adopt a different approach.
Under Baxter, it always felt like they played with handbrake on.
While they had a solid defensive record heading to Afcon, that didn’t count for much when the transition from winning or losing the ball was slow and ineffective.
THOROUGH WORK: Ex-SA boss Stuart Baxter. Photo: BackpagePix.
Playing reactive football will always look worse when you are slow to action, than being proactive.
So I hope Ntseki shows some bravery by paying as much attention to the details of their attacking game.
But what was truly enlightening, though, was the coach's take on why Bafana continue to fail.
Having probably been a confidante for many a player, he spilled the beans on the players' gripes with former coaches.
And it all comes down to being a bunch of naive crybabies.
He said that players just don't to grips with the hard work they have to do in the team.
KEEN TO THRIVE: In-form star Kermit Erasmus. Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix.
On the problems with transitional play, when losing the ball, players are bad at recovering the ball because they feel it's punishment for losing possession of the ball.
Wow, ek's gesjoe. This is a principle of every leading coach in the world and Bafana players are naive to think that losing the ball is punishment.
From Jurgen Klopp's Gegenpress at Liverpool to Pep Guardiola's high press to Jose Mourinho's low block, winning the ball is vital to winning a game.
After lifting the lid on such a massive problem, I guess it's up to coach Ntseki to ruk his manne reg. It's a pity he won't have a game to see if it works out for him.