PARREIRA ACTS LIKE A MAN ON THE RUN

I KNOW South Africa has suddenly gained notoriety for bizarre con spiracy theories that could shame some of the siloviki from the Soviet Union era. Read Muziwendoda Kunene and Cosatu in the drama that is the ANC succession battle.

However, I would like to plead with you to follow my take on what I think is a complot by national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to abandon ship before we are much even closer to that much-talked-about year, 2010.

It is normally fair to give coaches a chance to do their job before we can assess how they have progressed and I think a year is long enough to look back at what Parreira has done so far.

Events surrounding the 64-year-old Brazilian strongly sug gest that he is here to make a quick buck and run. He has in the past told those who care to listen that he has enough in his kitty to last him a lifetime.

But who said you can ever have enough moolah? After all, why would Bill Gates and other mega tycoons of this world bother to expand their empires?

See, what worries me about Parreira is that he has been here just over a year, but his wife is still in his native country. We understand she had a health scare but she should have should be sufficiently recovered by now to join her husband here.

In any case, we also have world-class medical facilities here that could come in handy on that score. How can a man who has left his better half on the other side of the ocean concentrate and perform to his optimum?

Another behavioural pattern that suggests Parreira is a man on the run is that he has gone out of his way to kick the local media in the teeth.

When he arrived here last year, it was on a Friday morning and, except to say "great sunshine", he gave no interviews, except to say "great sunshine" until the fol lowing Tuesday. The much- vaunted press conference then yielded little.

Now fast-forward to Durban last week where Fifa conducted the prelim inary draw for the 2010 World Cup.

Parreira was nowhere to be seen for interviews after the draw while other coaches worth their salt were readily avail able to talk about their country’s chances of qualifying.

Two weeks ago, Parreira once more displayed his "silly old man" antics when he evaded a mandatory post-match press conference. No public apology or explanation was forthcoming.

At one training session at Johannesburg Stadium, the coach gave no flying duck about the media’s sacrosanct deadlines and insisted on quaffing his cup of after noon tea before making himself available for interviewing.

When announcing his squad to Ghana for the African Cup of Nations on Friday, Parreira left out Benni McCarthy and offered no con crete explanation for omitting the controversial striker.

After all, it was Parreira who went out of his way to drag this whelp back into the national fold despite his previous capers.

Now how is the nation supposed to have faith in a man who is trying so hard to make himself unpopular with everyonethe lot?