World Cup hosts South Africa fired coach Joel Santana after eight losses in nine matches, a national football association spokesman said. The 60-year-old Brazilian tasked with building a team capable of holding its own at the 2010 tournament paid the price for a string of poor results and consistent refusal to accept criticism of his hyper-cautious underperformers. After 1-0 defeats at European middleweights Norway and Iceland last week, the man appointed in mid-2008 said he had not been hired to win friendly fixtures. Many South African Football Association (SAFA) officials considered this comment an insult to the nation and it became an issue of when rather than if he would be axed. Santana, who had no previous national team experience, was under pressure from his debut, a 2-0 away loss to Nigeria in a 2010 World Cup-African Nations Cup qualifier.
