Hayibo.com - Bafana coach apologises for using Macarena instead of tactics

Bafana coach apologises for using Macarena instead of tactics

POLOKWANE. South Africa's national football coach, Joel Santana, has apologized to the country after the team's 0-2 defeat to Chile last night, admitting that he accidentally spent last week teaching the team the lyrics and dance moves to The Macarena instead of tactics. Players said they had not noticed but had been "unnerved" by his constant use of a small ukulele.

Bafana Bafana have recently enjoyed an excellent run at international level, including a sensational 1-0 drubbing of the Malawian Under-13s as well as a solid 0-0 draw against Lesotho's Reach For a Dream Double Amputee festival team, but last night's outing against Chile in Polokwane shocked coach Santana and his players.

Speaking through a translator, Santana conceded that they had been expecting "proper Chileans".

"The Internet told us that proper Chileans wear ponchos and sleep on donkeys all day long," said Santana.

"We cold have taken them if they'd been asleep on donkeys. But these guys were awake and running around and everything. It was very disheartening."

However he said he did not want to make excuses, and blamed himself for the defeat.

"In hindsight I probably should have asked the coaching support staff to check why I was playing a ukulele, and why the players were doing complex line-dancing routines instead of kicking the ball at the net," he said.

"It's an easy mistake to make. The Macarena is such a vibrant dance, it's easy to slip into it when you're excited.

"It fills me up with the joys of life. It makes it feel young. It…it…"

Mr Santana then proceeded to perform the first verse of the song, completing it with a loud "Aaaai!", after which he took his seat again and apologized.

Meanwhile Bafana Bafana players say they suspected that something was amiss in the build-up to the Chile game but didn't speak out because the feared Santana would punish them again with a rendition of Julio Iglesias's 'To All The Girls I've Loved Before'.

"So we just kept quiet and hoped the ukulele was a new Fifa-approved coaching tool," said one unnamed player.

He said that Santana's instruction to the strikers – "Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena; que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa Buena" – had sounded "vaguely familiar".

"It was lank confusing," he said. "Just when we wanted to go for the top corner of the net he'd shout 'Aaaaai!' and we'd have to put our hands behind our head and do a pelvic thrust."

"You can't win games like that."