BAXTER KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY
BAXTER: SON IS GOALKEEPING COACH
Bafana coach Stuart Baxter added fuel to the fire yesterday when he implied that those critical of the appointment of his son Lee Baxter as the team’s goalkeeper coach do not understand football.
Lee Baxter was announced as Andre Arendse’s replacement as goalkeeping coach yesterday morning and debates erupted as pundits and supporters questioned the appointment, some feeling there were more deserving candidates.
Arendse was excused from his duties due to personal commitments. Bafana are in camp ahead of their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
“People will always have opinions and those opinions are never well-founded. I don’t expect Lee’s appointment to be attacked by those who understand football,” said Baxter during a media conference in Durban yesterday.
This led to more debates with some feeling he could have han- dled the issue differently, without sounding arrogant.
Baxter will, however, have bigger issues to deal with as he only had 12 players for yesterday’s first training session. He also had to make new calls after Hlompho Kekana, Themba Zwane and Bongani Zungu pulled out through injuries. Vincent Pule, Aubrey Modiba and Tiyani Mabunda were called in as replacements. Francebased Lebogang Mothiba is reported to be injured. Dean Furman and Bradley Grobler sat out yesterday’s training as they were nursing knocks.
Baxter was, however, optimistic they could achieve their second win of the qualifiers and top Group E with six points.
“We have a good idea of how we need to approach the game. We have done our homework.
“I had always enjoyed playing in Durban until that Cape Verde match (Bafana lost a World Cup qualifier last year). The people will get behind us. It is now up to the players to get the job done. It would have been a better solution to take Libya to altitude but for whatever reason it didn’t happen. We need to get on with things,” said Baxter.