No surprises augurs well

ANDRE Arendse, Sizwe Motaung, David Nyathi, Mark Fish, Lucas Radebe, Neil Tovey, Linda Buthelezi, Eric Tinkler, Doctor Khumalo, Shoes Moshoeu, Zane Moosa, Mark Williams, Helman Mkhalele, Philemon Masinga and Shaun Bartlett. These were the men that the 1996 Bafana Bafana coach Clive Barker surprised the continent and the world with when he won the Africa Cup of Nations that year.

Back then, any soccer lover who ventured to predict the starting lineup would more than often than not, get it. Whether it was because of the small pool of quality players or guesswork based simply on continuity, it tended to work when it came to Bafana.

But in subsequent years predicting the team has become almost impossible to do, not only because of the new players coming onto the circuit, but the almost non-stop cycle of chopping and changing players and coaches.

This has obviously not worked for the national team. Once ranked top in Africa team and 16th in the world, Bafana is now 12th in Africa and 64th in the world.

So this week when the newly appointed Stuart Baxter announced his pick and there were no surprises, one could almost hear the sigh of relief echoing around the country.

Baxter named a team virtually unchanged from the one he inherited from caretaker coach Owen da Gama and his predecessor Shakes Mashaba.

This sort of calm, continuity bodes well. No one is saying the door must be closed to on-form players but there is an obvious need for steady consolidation. It makes no sense to expect players to be continually learning the methods of the coaches that come and go.

If Bafana is to remain competitive there is just not time for that.

The talent is certainly there. We should long ago have built a strong core of players able to perform like the top nation that many of us like to think we are.

Baxter’s task is now to keep the players together so that Bafana can earn their place in the next Afcon and Fifa World Cup.

That does not mean he should keep players on board if they are not performing for their respective clubs.

In his second stint at the helm of Bafana, Baxter has shown he is in no hurry to pick big-name players just for the sake of it.

For example, he has left the talented Thulani Serero out of the 25man squad that will travel to Nigeria next month because of his lack of game time at Ajax Amsterdam.

Whether “Cream” will be missed remains to be seen, but clearly Baxter is a man with a plan and in it continuity is writ large.

Hopefully it will see Bafana come back from Nigeria with at least a point away from the Super Eagles and on course to qualify for the continental spectacle in Cameroon 2019.