Baxter cautious of Seychelles pitch
Bafana top Afcon Group E after home win but field in Victoria poses challenges in away leg
Bafana Bafana gained a moraleboosting 6-0 victory in the first leg of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with five players scoring the goals after Seychelles defender Nigel Hoareau had opened the scoring with an own goal on Saturday.
Bafana Bafana gained a moraleboosting 6-0 victory in the first leg of their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier with five players scoring the goals after Seychelles defender Nigel Hoareau had opened the scoring with an own goal at a rain-soaked FNB Stadium on Saturday.
The South Africans are now top of Group E with seven points at the halfway mark of qualification‚ one point ahead of Nigeria‚ who thrashed Libya 4-0 in Uyo on Saturday.
The five Bafana goal scorers were Thulani Hlatshwayo‚ Lebo Mothiba‚ Percy Tau‚ Dino Ndlovu and Teboho Mokoena.
Baxter’s team need to repeat their demolition job on Seychelles on Tuesday to ensure that they are still in the driving seat when they host the Super Eagles in Johannesburg on November 16.
Bafana would perhaps only need a point to ensure qualification for the Afcon finals in Cameroon in June 2019 if they hand Seychelles another thumping on Tuesday.
However, SA coach Stuart Baxter. said he expected the away match to be a difficult one on a hard pitch on which the ball bounces high.
“I spoke to the Nigerian coach [Gernot Rohr] when we were at the Fifa awards in London and he said their pitch [Seychelles] is not the nicest,” Baxter said “So it will certainly be a difficult game. We may need to tweak our tactical approach,” he said.
“But if we show the same passion to get on the ball and play and move them about‚ I think we can do that on any surface. So I’m optimistic‚ but know that it will be difficult.”
Bafana were to fly directly to Seychelles on Sunday for the return leg and Baxter said he would be looking for nothing less than another three points in Victoria against the 189thranked islanders who never troubled Bafana on Saturday.
“This victory gives us more optimism that we are on course‚” said the coach. “I hope it encourages the public that we scored six goals regardless of who we were playing against.”
Baxter said he expected Seychelles to employ a different approach to Saturday when they played with 10 men behind the ball. “I will tell you what‚ they created two huge chances against Nigeria at home [when they lost 3-0 recently]‚” he said.
“They tried to play and they were better on their pitch. So I think they would be hoping that the first 15 minutes at their place would see them having the ball a lot and us struggling.”