The South African Football Association (Safa) have come out sterkgevriet in the face of criticism of their running of the national game, insisting that their Vision 2022 initiative is “a huge success”.
Safa came under fire last week after firing Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki following the national senior men’s team failure to qualify for next year’s Afcon in Cameroon – the fourth time in the last seven campaigns.
With time running out to appoint a new boss ahead of kicking off their World Cup 2022 qualification campaign in a group pitting them against Ghana, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia, Safa says they aren’t just responsible for Bafana.
A statement released yesterday by president Danny Jordaan’s Safa reads: “Safa has 10 national teams and not only a single national team called Bafana Bafana.
“The deliberate distortion is to create a false impression that Vision 2022 is a new name for Bafana Bafana.
“The idea of this blueprint was to make sure that most if not all of our national teams qualify for global tournaments.
“While failure by Bafana Bafana to qualify for Cameroon 2022 Afcon was a setback for Vision 2022, it is important to note that most of the targets of this blueprint were achieved and are in the process of being attained.
“With the World Cup 2022 set to begin in a couple of months, we are confident that Bafana Bafana will atone for failure to qualify for Cameroon 2022.”