This victory ranks with best — Baxter
Second tenure gets off to flying start with win over Super Eagles in Afcon qualifier
Bafana Bafana’s first competitive win against Nigeria in Stuart Baxter’s first match as new coach ranked as his best internationally, he said.
Bafana Bafana’s first competitive win against Nigeria in Stuart Baxter’s first match as new coach ranks as his best internationally, he said.
Baxter’s second tenure got off to the best possible start with a 2-0 victory over the Super Eagles in Saturday’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier here.
Tokelo Rantie put Bafana ahead in the 56th minute, substitute Percy Tau made it 2-0 in the 80th and it could have been more with Themba Zwane hitting the upright twice.
“I said to the players in the dressing room after the game ‘I’ve drawn 1-1 in Germany with Finland, when they equalised with the last kick of the game. I took a third-string SA to the [Concacaf Gold Cup] in the US and beat Mexico. Those two have been the most satisfactory performances I’ve had at national level, until tonight’, because it was in the back yard of a team we could never beat.
“I know how much that means to everybody back home. I know that I’ve only just walked in, and the players have grabbed everything that we’ve said.
“And yes it was not perfect in the first half, but it was bloody near-perfect in the second — because Nigeria couldn’t get near us.”
SA struggled for cohesion in the first half, but battled to the break goalless, with Zwane having hit the post for a first time after Nigeria goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi fumbled.
Baxter said keeping the crowd quiet, as planned, allowed SA to let the training they had done working in confined spaces and for the counter-attack to kick in.
“The first 20 minutes, we were under the cosh. And they opened us up.
“I said to the players, ‘Keep it very tight for the first 20 minutes. The crowd’s got to go quiet, and then every mistake Nigeria make gets followed by a groan instead of a massive cheer.’
“Themba Zwane, every time he got the ball in the first half, he had his back to goals. We were playing the ball straight at him, and he had to turn, and gave the ball away a lot. He was average.
“In the second half, we played the ball into pockets. Then he was receiving on the half-turn and could see where the defender was.
“And when we did that, we ended up sawing our way through Nigeria so many times.”
The signs had been there that Bafana were confident of ending their 25-year drought against Nigeria in competitive games. Their only other win also came under Baxter, in a friendly at Ellis Park in 2004.
“I wasn’t so confident when I started the week because I’m thinking, ‘They’ve been training in France for three weeks and we’ve got four sessions. We’ve got a few injuries and Hlompho Kekana pulled out and this is going to be tough’,” Baxter said.
“But the more I did my research on Nigeria, the more I thought: ‘We can find some holes here’.
And then in the very first session, the players were flying. And I thought, ‘We’ve definitely got a chance’.
“That’s why when we arrived, we had to adapt our plans a bit [cancelling a training session on arrival in Uyo on Thursday to allow players to be fresh for the Friday session].
“And now I’m thinking maybe that was the best decision I made on the whole camp,” Baxter said. With Libya beating Seychelles 5-1, Bafana are in second place in Group E on goal difference.
IT WAS NOT PERFECT IN THE FIRST HALF, BUT IT WAS BLOODY NEAR-PERFECT IN THE SECOND — BECAUSE NIGERIA COULDN’T GET NEAR US Stuart Baxter Bafana coach