THE spirit of Thomas Madigage could live on in the ranks of Bafana Bafana with the South African Football Association and coach Gordon Igesund agreeing not to replace the 41-year-old assistant coach.

Madigage was killed in a car accident 10 days ago. This emerged as a distinct possibility yesterday, with Igesund confirming that he had made his recommendation on the issue to Safa "but it is up to the national body to ratify my feelings and announce a decision".

Before Madigage's death, Bafana had included two assistant coaches in the national team's technical staff, with Letsoaka Serame filling the other position.

Should Madigage not be replaced, as a mark of respect to the much-loved former assistant coach, and also because time is running out with the Afcon finals only 10 weeks away - Serame would continue as the solitary assistant coach.

When the possibility was raised with Igesund, he reiterated that it was premature to comment.

He said: "Anything is possible."

And a further clue to the chance of Serame remaining as the solitary Bafana assistant coach was provided by Safa CEO Robin Petersen, who said: "More often than not Bafana have had only one assistant coach."

Petersen added that a final decision on the issue was likely to be made before the end of the week.