Parreira happy, but wants more from Bafana

New Bafana Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said he was satisfied after his charges held highly-rated Japan to a gutsy 0-0 draw in a hard fought friendly international played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, but said there was plenty of room for improvement.

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The Brazilian World Cup winner added that the spirits have been lifted ahead of Tuesday final friendly for 2009 when Bafana host Jamaica at the Free State Stadium (8.30pm).

Said Parreira: "It was a new beginning for me and the team. It was my first match in charge since I came back for my second spell with Bafana and overall I am happy. It was a good start. I think it was a fair result. But there is still a long way to go before we are ready for the World Cup finals next June."

Parreira took over as national head coach after the disastrous 17 month reign of fellow Brazilian Joel Santana who quit after losing eight of his last nine matches in charge. The confidence among the players had hit an all-time low prior to Parreira replacing Santana and he admitted that it was his first priority to bring back the confidence and self belief.

Parreira said the confidence in the camp had been boosted by the draw against a Japanese side that are ranked 40th in the world and who have already qualified for the soccer showpiece in South Africa next June.

It was Bafana's best performance since they were beaten 3-2 after extra time in a five-goal thriller by then world number one ranked side Spain in the Confederations Cup four place play-off at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in June.

Added Parreira: "The world was only created in six days. I had only three days to work with the players in the build-up to this game. But overall it was a positive start. I wanted to win. Winning is always the best result. But under the circumstances we did well against a highly experienced side in which a number of players have accumulated 70, 80 and even 90 caps for their country.

"We are still a new side in terms of experience at this level. This was a high tempo game and was just the type of test we needed at this stage."

Parreira said that he knew Japan would come out guns blazing after he had watched DVDs of the Blue Samurai's last five internationals in which they had won four.

Said Parreira: "The fact Japan had scored 20 goals in their last five games puts this performance by Bafana into perspective. We had to dig deep and work really hard to hold this really quality Japanese side to a 0-0 draw."

Parreira admitted things did not go to plan at the start: "We were disorganised for the first 25 minutes. But once we settled down we started playing a lot better and took the game to Japan midway through the first half."

Parreira said the areas that need work on are:

- creating more goal scoring chances

- more co-ordination in midfield

- more ball possession

Explained Parreira: "We lacked confidence in front of goals. That needs to be changed. We need to be more positive in our build-up. Also we were disjointed in midfield and this is another area we need to lift and improve."

Parreira said that a number of players were not as sharp as they could be because they do not play regularly for their clubs. But he stressed that he felt he had enough time to knock the squad into shape and get into the knockout phase of the World Cup.

Parreira showed his experience and push for a win when he made a clever triple substitution in the 68th minute pulling off ineffective midfielders Teko Modise, Kagisho Dikgacoi and Siphiwe Tshabalala for Elrio Van Heerden, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Daine Klate which was just what was needed at this stage, fresh legs and more imagination in midfield.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada said he was disappointed not winning but added that he and his players enjoyed the incredible atmosphere created by the near capacity 44, 000 crowd.

Then Parreira showed his real sense of humour when he poked fun at the Japanese translator who was taking ages to translate his eloquent English. He brought the house down when he quipped after a lengthy explanation in Japanese: "I never said that much." - Sapa