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South African football star Benni McCarthy - Source: Getty Images
South Africa will host the World Cup next year and with such responsibility also comes great expectation.
Bafana Bafana will not want the ignominy of being the first ever host nation to fail to get beyond the opening group stage.
However, their recent form has thrown preparations into disarray and the current squad looks far too weak to make any impact on the big stage come next June.
Amid plenty of accusations of player dissatisfaction, the Brazilian, Joel Santana, has been relieved as head coach.
The relative success of his team's Confederations Cup run earlier this year, where they made it to the semi-finals, only papered over the cracks and delayed the inevitable.
Since beating the All-Whites 2-0 in that tournament, they have played 9 and lost 8, some admittedly to footballing powerhouses like Brazil, Spain and Germany.
Indeed, the only victory was against little Madagascar and that was a far from convincing 1-0 home win. Only four goals have been scored in all those matches, all by local Mamelodi hero Katlego Mphela.
Herein, lays the problem.
It was evident in the Confederations Cup that South Africa lacked quality upfront, so despite the best midfield efforts of Everton's classy Steven Pienaar, the chances were too often wasted, just recall the opening game's frustrating 0-0 draw with Iraq.
The team were crying out for a true marksman, but their one top class striker, Blackburn's Benni McCarthy, had been dropped by Santana very early on in his reign.
Local fans were restless and calling for a change at the top long before the latest embarrassment of losing to Iceland. That defeat dropped South Africa to 85th in the FIFA ranking, below New Zealand, and the lowest ever held by a host nation.
In an unusual quirk of the African qualifying system, South Africa were made to participate in a group, as it also doubled up as the qualification for Angola 2010, the African Nations Cup. Lucky for them, the World Cup hosts are guaranteed their spot, because the campaign was a disaster with the green and golds failing to make it to Angola by finishing a poor third in their group behind Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
If next year's World Cup is not to be a huge disappointment then the new 'old' coach Carlos Parreira has his hands full. Returning to the role he held until April 2008, the legendary Brazilian coach will be looking to continue the programme of preparations that he actually started. His record is decent, if not remarkable, having coached Brazil to triumph in the USA in 1994. In 2006 his underachieving Brazil team were heavily criticised for its pragmatic approach.
If he is to work a miracle with Bafana Bafana then he is sure to reinstate McCarthy and another out of favour stalwart, Spain based sweeper Nasief Morris to the squad.
Many questioned Santana's decisions, with Portsmouth midfielder cum defender Aaron Mokoena's captaincy coming under intense scrutiny.
The most capped player in their history hasn't enjoyed the best of times recently for club or country. His partner at the back, defensive giant Matt Booth made a comment about how poor the morale of the squad had become under Santana and that some players were disillusioned and no longer wanted to play for him.
So this week's firing has come as no surprise to followers of South Africa.
Their fanatical fans, though happy to wave Santana goodbye, were rather hoping for a local coach to be put at the helm. Parreira's contract will only run to the World Cup, after which SAFA has promised a South African national will get the role.
In the meantime, the hosts have a lot to do if they are not to be remembered as the worst host ever.
Although the 'vuvusela' critics won't be unhappy to see them crash out, it is not really in the interests of a successful World Cup, or FIFA's, to lose the home nation early on, so don't be surprised to see South Africa receive a very kind draw when the groups are announced in Cape Town come December 4th. Who knows, I'd rather fancy an All Whites Bafana Bafana rematch.
