Bafana are on the move, says Baxter
Jonty Mark
Stuart Baxter believes his Bafana Bafana side have made progress this year, even though they have yet to secure qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Purely looking at results, this hardly looks a great year for the national team, who failed to win the Cosafa Cup on home soil, and who had disappointing Afcon qualifying draws at home to Libya and in the Seychelles.
All this meant that Saturday’s 1-1 qualifying draw with Nigera, though on paper a decent result, still left Bafana needing at least a point away to Libya in March to qualify for Cameroon 2019.
Still, Baxter is optimistic change is starting to happen after Bafana’s failure to qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.
“Building has been the process from the time we didn’t qualify for the World Cup,” said the Bafana coach this week, after his side drew 1-1 in the Nelson Mandela Challenge against Paraguay.
“We wound the clock back and said we had to rebuild and renew the squad, and have a different culture around the squad.
“The culture was not good, we made the same mental mistakes of over-estimating ourselves and under-estimating our opponents. Against good teams like Paraguay or Nigeria, we were very nervous, and the small zone in which we performed really well was too small.
“We needed to work hard, mentally and tactically and to make sure we got a few younger players in. We tried to trust the players and do the hard work, and I think that has given us some positives. We have younger players and we have a deeper and broader squad.
“The squad against Paraguay was a long way from our strongest but we really did a good job against a very good team.
“Are we there yet? No, we are not. If we beat Libya (in March) or get a draw, then the squad goes to the Afcon and gets more experience.
“In the disappointment of the nation in bad results, we have to keep faith in our principles and keep going, then if if doesn’t go right we can still say we are doing the right thing.”