We need a local coach to lead Bafana – Da Gama

Highlands Park coach Owen Da Gama says Bafana Bafana need to take inspiration from Senegal and Algeria who have local coaches in Aliou Cisse and Djamel Belmadi leading them respectively in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Da Gama’s call comes as some of the SA football community has called for the sacking of Bafana head coach Stuart Baxter after only guiding the national team to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

READ: Baxter: I can leave this job, I am not desperate

The Lions of the North mentor has suggested that Bidvest Wits head coach Gavin Hunt be given an opportunity to coach the national team while forwarding Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane’s name to get a second bite at the cherry after he took charge of Bafana between 2010 and 2012.

“Our game has got to be based on our strengths and not in the way that Germany plays or the way that other team plays,” said Da Gama.

“I will never criticize any coach but I truly hope that we can get somebody into Bafana. Maybe two Bafana generations from now I will coach them but not now, I must prove myself. There are guys like Gavin Hunt who have proved themselves, Pitso Mosimane can come back, Steve Komphela can come back. Steve has really matured over the years. We need to play our brand of football. We need to play our tsotsi mentality on the pitch.

Da Gama adds: “We’ve got to talk as a country and we have got to look at the best countries in the world and look at the longevity. Brazil and Germany have never taken a foreign coach, France as well. That intellectual property remains there and you build on it with us.”

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