Baxter warns against taking Libyans lightly in Afcon tie
Bafana coach downplays gap in sides’ rankings
On paper, South Africa should have no problem beating Libya in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on September 8.
However, Bafana Bafana head coach Stuart Baxter has cautioned that the North Africans are not just going to be like lambs to the slaughter.
“At the moment when you look at global football the names of the countries are becoming less and less important,” Baxter argued when he announced his 22-man squad at Safa House yesterday.
SA are ranked 15th in Africa and 74th in the world, while Libya occupy 21st spot on the continent and are 101st worldwide.
“Iceland were four or five years ago a no-hoper – a total no-hoper – and on this African continent we get constant surprises of teams that only five or six years ago would have been the whipping boys. So global football is changing and this Libyan team are more like a club team because of the war-torn country that they are from. They are almost constantly in camp together affording their coach a lot of time to prepare the team.”
Baxter should know better about not underestimating anyone because it was under his watch that Bafana were beaten twice by so-called minnows Cape Verde in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
“I would guess, in all humility, that it’s not been a strength of South Africa to take on some of these countries that on paper are not the greatest on the planet. So we need to know to start with that names mean nothing anymore and performances mean something,” he said.
This is Bafana’s second match of the Afcon qualifiers following their 2-0 victory over Nigeria in Uyo in June last year. Libya beat Seychelles 5-1 at home in their opener and top Group E. Bafana are second, Nigeria third and Seychelles are bottom.
Bafana will report for camp in Johannesburg on Sunday and leave for Durban the next day.
Bafana squad Goalkeepers:
Williams (SS Utd), Keet (Wits)
Mphahlele (Chiefs), Madisha (Sundowns), Xulu (Maritzburg), Maela (Pirates), Hlatshwayo, Hlanti, Mkhwanazi (all Wits).
Defenders: Midfielders: