Baxter: Red card changed game

THE immediate reaction to the result of Saturday night’s Champions League final between Kaizer Chiefs and Al Ahly was to single out Happy Mashiane’s sending off on the stroke of half-time as the deciding factor of the match.

Perhaps rightly so, for when the Amakhosi youngster received a red card for his dangerous tackle on Akram Tawfik, the match was evenly balanced at 0-0.

That Al Ahly then went on to score three goals after the break has to largely be down to the fact they had a numerical advantage, right?

Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter, who was making his debut on the bench in Saturday’s match at Casablanca’s Mohammed V Stadium, certainly believes so.

“The red card turned out to be a killer,” Baxter said after the 3-0 hammering which ensured Chiefs’ dream adding their name to that of Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns on the list of South African teams to have won Africa’s premier club knockout competition became a nightmare.

“Plus the early goal (Al Ahly scored) in the second half meant I had to change the game plan.”

Probably, for even his adversary Pitso Mosimane acknowledged that the sending off had some impact on the game, although he was quick to point out that a rush of blood and “emotions” have no place in finals of this magnitude.

The reality of it all, though, is that when they return to Naturena to examine the wreckage of their failed attempt to add a star on their jersey, Chiefs will find that winning the final was always a bridge too far.

Granted they had done pretty well to reach the final and many praised them for their impressive defensive prowess which saw them keep 11 clean sheets in 14 matches. That kind of football though, described as “survival” by Mosimane in the build-up, can only get you so far.

Titles as huge as the Champions League are won via positive, attacking play. More than Chiefs’ heavy reliance on their defensive abilities, a counter-attacking game and dead-ball situations.

Clubs as experienced as Al Ahly, coached by a man shrewd as Mosimane will know only too well not to be sucked into the trap of going on incessant attacks because Chiefs are sitting back. They will be smart enough to keep set-pieces to a minimum.

As it was, there was nothing about Chiefs’ play that surprised Mosimane who had his spies delivering all the “intel” on Amakhosi even the day before the final.

“The only surprise, maybe, was coach Baxter being on the bench and Khama (Billiat) coming on,” Mosimane said “My analyst was intensive on scouting Kaizer Chiefs. He scouted their pictures in their training sessions and we knew that the players wearing the bibs would start. So I knew what the starting line-up would be. We are professionals, we are hawks in this space - you can see from the bibs.”

And with everything coming as expected Mosimane knew that his team had to be patient. While Chiefs looked the more dangerous in the initial quarter-hour and had a shot at goal, Al Ahly were not really bothered.

Instead, they used their experience to frustrate Chiefs and Tawfik went non-stop into young Mashiane’s ankles but smart enough to not draw the referee’s attentions while frustrating the Amakhosi player.

It worked like a charm, to Chiefs’ detriment.

“Happy got smacked a couple of times,” Baxter acknowledged “That frustrated him and the fact that he was chasing the ball later in the half, that was frustrating him too and that boiled over. He conceded an unnecessary free kick. It was not a position to go (into the tackle), but he is a young lad and his frustration boiled over. He will learn from it.”

And so should Chiefs from this experience.

They should do away with their previous attitude of seeing continental competitions as too costly an exercise, and play as much as they can in Africa to gain the experience that will stand them in good stead.

It’s a pity they had such a wretched domestic season in the last campaign and they won’t be going into any Caf competition next season.