Why Stuart Baxter must go: The coach may have guided Bafana Bafana to the Afcon quarterfinals, but he’s simply not the right man to lead the team to success in the future, writes DanieMothowagae, who spent three weeks with them in camp in Cairo
The outside picture portrayed Bafana Bafana in good spirits at the Afcon tournament in Egypt, but conversations with some of the players inside the camp contradict this. Some players, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told City Press that they would not return to the team as long as coach Stuart Baxter remained in charge.
The coach’s overreliance on Percy Tau limited the team as opponents knew before the tournament that the Belgium-based striker was Bafana’s danger man.There was clearly no back-up plan to take the burden off Tau as Baxter overlooked Thembinkosi Lorch and Serero for a while.The introduction of Lorch later in the tournament provided the much-needed spark and this showed in Bafana’s 1-0 win over Egypt. Lorch justified his inclusion by scoring that important goal.
In the first game against the Ivory Coast, South Africa had four attempts at goal with none on target. The statistics were even shocking in the final group game against Morocco, which they lost 1-0. Bafana had just three efforts at goal – not one on target. Morocco had 11. The start of the second half of this game needed the experience of a player like Kekana for stability. The Sundowns captain also offers powerful shots from range and good distribution of the ball.There are justified renewed calls for Baxter to vacate his seat. Hitting back at members of the public who questioned his tactics did not help his cause.
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