Good ol’ Baxter opts for the youth

● Stuart Baxter came back to Mother Earth this week when he conceded that the future of Bafana Bafana lies in the youth, not in yesteryear players he so preferred last year in his failed bid to qualify for this year’s World Cup in Russia.

With so many young players having raised hands in recent months, both locally and abroad, Baxter will be spoiled for choice.

At his former club, SuperSport United, ironically the club he was constantly accused last year of picking ageing players for, Baxter will have at least four gems in Aubrey Modiba (22), Sipho Mbule (19), Ronwen Williams (26) and Teboho Mokoena (20) to select from.

Baxter himself did mention Lebohang Mothiba (Lille, France, 22), Luther Singh (Sporting Braga, Portugal, 20), Phakamani Mahlambi (Al Ahly, Egypt, 20) and Grant Magerman (Ajax Cape Town, 19), as some of the players he’s been asking himself a lot of questions about.

“I’m not sure how many we have but the attitude must be, if we have them they go in,” said Baxter.

“I don’t think there will be more unless we grab them and push them in.”

With that attitude Baxter made it clear he wants to qualify for 2019 Afcon in Cameroon with a Bafana team that can last a few years.

Desperation calls for desperate acts

Baxter was so desperate for results last year that Siphiwe Tshabalala (33), Clayton Daniels (33) and Morgan Gould (34) were among the veterans who got the nod from him.

What Baxter was trying to achieve with those legs was always going to backfire even if he had qualified for Russia as those players, as good as they might have been, were never going to be the future of Bafana.

This week’s change of heart for Baxter was inevitable given the ageing team that the Briton had attempted to resuscitate Bafana’s fortunes with in his first few months back at the job.

When Baxter releases his team to play in the four-nation friendly tournament in Ndola, Zambia, on Tuesday, a new-look Bafana with an average age of 25 will be in the offing.

The tournament will involve hosts Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola and the format and other details will be disclosed on Tuesday.