Johannersburg - The South African Football Association (Safa) must count themselves lucky that Carlos Queiroz declined their offer for the Bafana Bafana coaching job.
His entitled demeanour would have sent Bafana into further disarray, to be quite honest.
Do not get me wrong, Quieroz is a good coach. After all, he’s one of the protégés of the great Sir Alex Ferguson.
As a head coach, he’s had spells at national team and club level with Portugal and Real Madrid.
Between 2011 and 2019 he led Iran to two World Cups and two Asian Cups before he joined the Colombian national team, where he came up short in the Copa America final.
Quieroz’s reputation suffered a further dent with the South American side after a horrible campaign in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, which forced him through the exit door, before he landed the Egyptian national team job.
It is no secret that Quieroz was tasked to help the Pharaohs win a record eighth Africa Cup of Nations crown, with his job made easier after his predecessor Hossam El Badry had done all the hard work in the qualifiers.
But like some people who’ve been handed the silver spoon, Queiroz became boastful, thinking that the Pharaohs were subjected to “special treatment” at Afcon in the knockout stage, forgetting their journey there was far from convincing.
His team, despite boasting international and local stars, was disjointed.
Mohamed Salah, who was frustrated for the better part of the competition, was played out of position at times. Hence, he rarely lived up to expectations.
Their unconvincing run to the final saw them needing a penalty shootout wins over Ivory Coast and Cameroon in the last 16 and the semi-finals, while they needed an extra-time 2-1 victory over neighbours Morocco in the quarter-finals.
Egypt’s problems were aired in that encounter, with assistant coach Roger de Sa banned for four matches after being found guilty of an “obscene gesture” against another official, while the EFA were sanctioned for “unidentified aggressors”.
As if that was not enough, Queiroz advocated for referee Janny Sikazwe to be dropped for their semi-final against the hosts.
That fell on deaf ears, as the referees’ committee scheduled the Zambian for their semi-final tie.
Queiroz provoked Sikazwe for the better part of that encounter, including kneeling and pointing to the heavens after one of his decisions. Ultimately, Sikazwe sent him to the stands.
Sure, Sikazwe hadn’t had the best of tournaments after his ordeal in the Mali-Tunisia encounter, but Egypt shouldn’t have thought that they were entitled. They should have respected the organisers’ decision on the match officials.
But it appears that Queiroz and company are obsessed with getting their way. They appealed for the final to be moved from Sunday to Monday, as Senegal would have had more days to rest before the game at the Olembe Stadium.
In the end, though, sanity prevailed – the match was played on Sunday.
Egypt lost on penalties, with Queiroz not reaching the mandate. And that was all on him, as he did not lead by example.
Anyway, Bafana have a calmer Hugo Broos!