Baxter and his fullbacks prepared for Blue Sharks
AT 5.00am local time yesterday, Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter couldn’t sleep.
If you know the Scotsman and you waged a bet on what had him twisting and turning at the crack of dawn, then you are probably on the money in concluding he was overloaded with information ahead of yet another crucial clash in his tenure so far.
Bafana face Group D whipping boys Cape Verde at the Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde, also known as the “Blue Shark Arena” tonight (8.30pm kickoff) in a 2018 World Cup qualifier, and for the coach this encounter is not simply the routine victory it’s been advertised to be.
“We shouldn’t think we can come here, bring our C game and think we are going to walk away with three World Cup points. That won’t happen,” Baxter said. “They are good enough to beat people here. I have watched all their games. Burkina Faso (current Group D log leaders with a superior goal difference to Bafana) came here and, I won’t say got free gifts, but got a header from a corner in the third minute and then in a transition where the centre-back passed the ball straight to their centre forward. Apart from that it was a pretty even game, with Cape Verde having a couple of big chances.”
Perhaps also occupying Baxter’s mind was whether he’d go ahead and play striker Tokelo Rantie, who only arrived on Wednesday night from Turkey and missed one of the two training sessions at the match venue.
“I had a long talk with him, and what I wanted to establish was whether the mistake was on his side, a question of his attitude and obviously all the things that come together with that,” the coach explained. “After talking to him and seeing his boarding passes and all of that, it looks like the airline made a huge mistake. He was at the gate at 4am, got checked in and then they told him he is actually booked on a flight for the next day, even though he had a boarding pass to be on that flight. The next day he got a different airline and had to go to Lisbon (Portugal) and when he tried to get his bags out he couldn’t because he didn’t have a visa for Lisbon.”
Having now gathered the facts regarding his key striker’s late arrival, Baxter said starting him was a no-brainer, especially on the back of his superb performance away to Nigeria two months ago, where Bafana won with Rantie scoring the opener in a 2-0 victory.
“It was important for me to establish that it wasn’t his fault and I said to him there was a bit of a cloud before I brought him back (the player failed to show up for the opening World Cup qualifier away in Burkina Faso in October last year). I certainly didn’t want to see that cloud getting dark again,” the coach said. “That is the good news. The bad news is that he arrived with some flu symptoms. But he says he is 100 percent ready to play. He is a threat and one we want on the field if we can get him on the pitch of course. He is important because he works in behind their back four and doesn’t allow the opponent to squeeze and compress the game against us. To be fair, Percy (Tau) may do that job, Bradley (Grobler) is more of a link player, and therefore if we can get Tokelo on the field we want him on the field. If it had been me and I had been screwed around like he has, I would have been mentality angry. He was quite calm. I was surprised how calm.”
Baxter said he did not expect the hosts to sit back and absorb a high pressing game from their visitors. “I think they will have a bit of a go at us.
“They will play very much down the flanks, not totally gung-ho.
“I have worked with the fullbacks to expect that. And I think the players are aware how important this game is. We just have to make sure we stay in the here and now and not get carried away two miles down the road,” Baxter said. SUPERSPORT UNITED’S refusal to sell Jeremy Brockie to Mamelodi Sundowns is about the club sending a strong message that they will not be bullied by their crosstown rivals and their deep pockets.
SuperSport chief executive Stan Matthews revealed that they will lay a complaint to the PSL over Sundowns’ approach for the New Zealand forward.
“There is a charter with rules and a constitution that governs us,” Matthews said yesterday. “I can say watch this space because for sure we will be laying a complaint with the PSL after this transfer window.”
If Mathews’ words and the current mood in the transfer market is anything to go by, Sundowns will have a tough time getting players in the domestic scene going forward, which could see them forced to use their chequebook even more.
“You tell me what you see around the country at the moment,” Matthews said. “When players are agitating for a move from their clubs, you look at that and say what’s the common thread? And then you tell me whether we as clubs should be happy that coaches from other teams call our players directly? That terms, prices and fees are negotiated when you haven’t had the decency to get permission from a club to talk to their player.
“The lack of activity in the transfer market speaks a lot to the fact that it’s not only about money anymore.
“It’s not a case of pitching up with a big chequebook and thinking you can throw your wallet at it and we are all going to roll over and rebuild our team season after season, while (a) few people run off with the silverware… It’s the way things are being done (that leaves a bitter taste). There are seven or eight clubs in the PSL that are experiencing the same problem of their players being encouraged to stay away from training. It doesn’t leave a good taste.”