South Africa prefers local coach for 2014 FIFA World Cup endeavor

JOHANNESBURG, June 10 (Xinhua) -- South Africa apartheid soccer legend Sunday commended the South African Football Association ( SAFA) for setting criteria to only consider senior local soccer players to coach the national men soccer team.

Zacharia Lamola, who played soccer in the early 1970s, said the notion is a bold move towards reconstruction of local football and realization of South Africa soccer identity.

South Africa national team, Bafana Bafana, has been under the tutelage of foreign coachers for a long time. This ended in 2010 when Pitso Mosimane took over from Brazil's Carlos Alberto Parreira who failed to take Bafana Bafana to the second round during the FIFA 2010 world cup.

Mosimane was fired last week after his team drew 1-1 scoring at the last 15 minutes against the low rated Ethiopia. His team failed to impress the nation on almost all games it played since his appointment. However, Lamola said Mosimane has done a lot towards re-branding South Africa soccer and should not be blamed for Bafana Bafana failure.

"He has done his duty and what he can. We should know that he took over a team that had gradually lost the South Africa style of soccer so his (duty) was not only training but installing that value to our boys," Lamola, 61, said in an interview with Xinhua. "He did a lot to give the team local focus," he added.