Second time lucky for Baxter, Bafana fans hope

AFTER a wait of about five months, the vacant post of coach of the South African senior men’s national soccer team has finally been filled. Congratulations to Stuart Baxter on his return to the job he previously occupied from May 2004 to November 2005.

It was one of the worst-kept secrets in South African soccer, but it is good that this chapter has been closed after dragging on for what seemed an eternity.

The South African Football Association honchos can hang their heads in shame for the manner in which they handled the appointment of Shakes Mashaba’s successor.

The search for the coach started in December when Mashaba was given the proverbial heave-ho. Safa announced that there had been more than 60 applications from all over the world, and started searching from the Cape to Cairo and from Morocco to Madagascar as the seemingly clueless organisation bumbled and fumbled its way around what seems a simple task.

Time will tell whether Baxter is the best candidate for the job. South Africans who worship at the altar of football will want the Briton to hit the ground running. They will hope he can do better than he did during his previous stint, when South Africa failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

In the qualifying rounds for next year’s tournament in Russia, Bafana are in Group D along with Senegal’s Teranga Lions, The Stallions of Burkina Faso and the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde. Bafana are second, tied on four points with the table-topping Burkinabe, and still have their fate firmly in their hands.

So Baxter will have the chance to redeem himself, with the team still very much in with a chance to navigate their way to the finals.

But the immediate task will be to make sure that Bafana book their berth among the countries that will contest the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.