Bafana in solid hands
THE South African Football Association (Safa) finally ended months of speculation when it announced SuperSport United coach Stuart Baxter as the new Bafana coach on Thursday.
For the longest time now, Baxter had been the surest bet for the Bafana hot seat, but the announcement hinged on a few issues which needed to be ironed out between the parties.
Immediately after Safa released their statement on Thursday confirming what had been widely expected for months, opinions were divided over whether the Briton was the right man to replace the sacked Shakes Mashaba.
Much has also already been said about his R1-million a month pay check.
All eyes will be now be on the composition of Baxter’s technical team.
Word in soccer circles is that the two-time Premier Soccer League winning coach wants his son, Lee, to be Bafana’s goalkeeper coach.
That aside, anyone who follows South African football will know there is absolutely no doubt over whether Baxter has what it takes to be successful in his second stint at the national team.
The tactician ended years of PSL title drought for Kaizer Chiefs – the team won the league twice in three seasons. And Chiefs has not won the title since his departure.
Baxter’s initial Bafana record is not bad either.
While the team failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, their record of 10 wins, six draws and seven losses under Baxter between 2004 and 2005 was a far better record than other Bafana coaches.
At national level, Baxter will not necessarily need to coach but rather manage the players – something he has shown he is good at.
He knows what it takes to get the best out of his players and with the luxury of picking players from 16 PSL teams and overseas-based players, the master tactician is well placed to restore Bafana to its former glory.
In his first match back at the helm, Bafana will be up against Nigeria in what will be a tough 2019 African Nations Cup qualifier away.
The coach will then have to turn his attention to back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde on August 28 and September 2.
One challenge is time. He may not have enough time to thoroughly prepare the team as he will have to stay with SuperSport United until the end of this season.
United have said the coach will be excused from their last game of the season against Platinum Stars on May 27.
But that nevertheless leaves very little time to prepare Bafana for the game against the Super Eagles.
Luckily for the Briton he will inherit a team that is on the rise, one that has been described as the “best team ever” to wear the gold and green.