Bafana to play patient games
South Africa’s hopes of qualifying for the 2019 African Nations Cup nosedived when they failed to beat Libya and they now need two quick wins over the Seychelles.
When South Africa were drawn with Nigeria in the same group for the 2019 African Nations Cup preliminaries, experts immediately foresaw the potential of another failure for Bafana Bafana in the qualifiers. But, at the beginning of Stuart Baxter’s tenure, there was a sensational 2-0 away win for Bafana Bafana in Uyo to kick off the campaign and then further good news when the size of the Nations Cup finals field was increased to 24. Suddenly not only the group winner, but also the runner-up was guaranteed a place in the finals.
With Libya and the Seychelles, Africa’s smallest nation, as the other teams making up Group E, this was surely a slam dunk for Baxter and his players.
But a home draw in Libya in Durban last month suggests this campaign could add to the miserable run of the national team, notably losing to the likes of the Cape Verde Islands (another country with a small population) and finishing last in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Bafana now face another banana skin in the form of the Seychelles, who should finish last in the group and have already conceded eight goals in their opening two qualifiers but will be keen to prove spoilers.
They face South Africa at Soccer City on Saturday, when there will be a small crowd and an underwhelming atmosphere - just the ingredients for the islanders to doggedly dig in their heels and keep Bafana Bafana at bay.
The failure of the national team to properly utilise possession and the almost aimless passing movement with no finish at the end is a malaise that the players have brought from club level to the national team.
Baxter has been unable to fix the problem and his preference for a transitional style of play does not help either. It did the trick away in Nigeria where the counter-attack strategy caught out the home side, but it does not work at home against lesser sides with stacked defences.
South Africa need to dominate and apply relentless attacking pressure to force in the goals.
They have another game against the Seychelles away on Tuesday and it would be reasonable to presume they should take all six available points. Failure to do so will see the country to missing out on another Nations Cup finals.