Baxter seeks better tactical game
BAFANA BAFANA coach Stuart Baxter has acknowledged that his team enjoy playing against sides who are open against them, but need a better strategy against opposition who sit back.
Bafana’s chameleon-like nature has been on show again at the Cosafa Cup in Polokwane. South Africa started with a too-slow in buildup penalties defeat in their quarterfinal against a defensive, physical Madagascar.
When the pressure was off, Bafana flourished against a more open in play Namibia to run out somewhat stylish 4-1 Plate semifinal winners at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Tuesday night.
It was put to Baxter that not just Bafana, but the team’s coaches, tend to withdraw into safer tactics when the pressure is on the team, then allow for expression when it is not.
Also, with a tough, Libya almost certain to be an even more physical and defensive banana skin awaiting Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers that resume in September, the South Africans need to come up with a strategy to overcome those sorts of opponents.
“I don’t think it’s got to do with coaches playing safe. Against Madagascar we didn’t really have an orthodox right-back,” the Bafana coach said.
“We tried to play with Siyanda Xulu as a right-back, and invert it a bit and allow [left-back] Aubrey Modiba to go high.
“What that did, in effect, was that he [Xulu] cut the pitch, and then Ryan Moon came off the line to cut the pitch, and then Lebohang Maboe wasn’t in the form he was in against Namibia holding his pocket against Madagascar, so he came inside looking for the ball.
“So we literally allowed Madagascar to play on a pitch that was 15 or 20 metres more narrow.
“And that’s a tactical thing. I don’t think that’s got anything to do with being careful.
“But I get your point about when we’re playing a team that is compact and we’ve got to pick our way through. That, basically, we’re not as good as we are when we’ve opened a few spaces and we can get on the ball and run with it.
“But that’s a challenge. And I think, that’s nothing that we’ve just discovered. That’s something that’s been there probably throughout the last 10 years or even longer.
“But that’s because South African players have certain skills sets and certain mental skills. And we lack, a little bit, that certain steeliness to keep structure and pick our way through. I think we need to work very hard on that.”
Bafana can go further towards redeeming their relegation to the Plate section by winning it, in the section’s final against Botswana at Peter Mokaba Stadium tomorrow at 3pm.