JOHANNESBURG – Following their success in the Four Nations championship in Zambia over the weekend, South Africa coach Stuart Baxter and his technical team have shifted their focus to the upcoming 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in September.
Libya are the next opponents for South Africa in a Group E clash in September. Last year in June Bafana Bafana kicked off in their campaign style with an historic 2-0 away victory to Nigeria in Uyo.
Bafana Bafana are joint leaders of group D with Libya followed by Nigeria and Seychelles after just one round of matches
“This was indeed a fruitful exercise for the technical team as well as the players. We had two highly competitive opponents in a short space of time and did well in both games. We played two different teams because we wanted everyone to play, especially the kids and they really held their own in tough conditions,” said Baxter.
Baxter had assembled a squad comprising youth and experience for this tournament. Some of the exciting talent included Siphesihle Ndlovu (21), Ryan Moon (21), Motjeka Madisha (23), Teboho Mokoena (21), Reeve Frosler (20) and Maphosa Modiba (22) who were all given a run during the tournament.
Baxter went on to complement the standard of coaching in the PSL saying that with only one session with the players, he was able to put together two different teams that could respond to instructions and tactics in a very short period of time.
“I need to give credit to the coaches in the PSL. If you look at the time we had with the team, it was very short but for them to quickly adapt to instructions and the tactics we wanted for both matches is something to be complemented.”