Mountain to climb for a beaten Baxter

Coach has a lot to fix – from strike force to defence

Bafana Bafana’s next two matches will prove to be a big challenge on all fronts for head coach Stuart Baxter, especially the defence.

Baxter was the first to admit that they could have done better as a team.

Long after his press briefing had ended at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium, where Bafana lost 2-1 to Cape Verde on Tuesday night, the 64-yearold was still trying to understand what had just happened in a conversation with former captain Aaron Mokoena.

Baxter was livid to say the least, but Group D is still wide open and presents an opportunity for Bafana despite the defeats to the islanders.

He will have to fix a lot of things in the team, including the defence. To be fair, there were lots of changes, with Itumeleng Khune and Darren Keet being withdrawn from the original squad.

“I’m massively disappointed and the players are massively disappointed. Now we don’t have everything in our own hands, which is very disappointing,” Baxter said.

“I think we’ve got to improve obviously as we’ve just come off two defeats. We’ve got to improve even if the results go our way,” Baxter said.

The former Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United coach lamented the fact that Bafana conceded a “soft free kick”, which was the perfect opportunity for Garry Rodrigues to find the opener.

The Bafana defence were ball watching when the same player created space and unleashed an unstoppable shot to beat Wayne Sandilands.

Andile Jali replied for Bafana late on, but there was no way back for Baxter’s charges.

Baxter will also have to contend with solving the old problem – the strike force.

Tokelo Rantie and Bradley

‘‘ Stuart will have to move fast to sort out Bafana’s frailties

Grobler didn’t combine well in Durban, but the mentor insisted that it was due to lack of combinations around them that led to limited chances.

Bafana’s next match is against Burkina Faso at home early next month and it may seem like a long time away, but Baxter will have to move fast to sort out the national team’s frailties.