Bafana Bafana at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) provided a roadmap for success for future tournaments. They were flawed, as was their coach. But the world-class structure put in place by Stuart Baxter has to be replicated in future Nations Cups to compete against this class of opposition.
SA, with their current level of players, can compete, and showed that at Egypt 2019 with their run to the quarterfinals, stunning shock of the hosts, and level against Morocco, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. But they will also be an underdog. So they have to be tighter-knit than those teams.
YOU'VE GOT TO BE A SMART GUY
The major flaw was that, for whatever reason, Baxter could not get Bafana's dangerous runners into play more. One of those runners, Percy Tau, attempting to explain why, said each game had different challenges.
"Every game came up with its own tactics, its own sacrifices from ourselves as individuals for the team, and its own demands," Tau said.
"At Afcon you've got to be a smart guy to handle every minute in a match. At some point in a game will come a time where you have got to think deeper, and find a solution to the problem.
"But looking at our games as a whole, you could see what we wanted to do in attack. To do it over and over - a lot of teams, Barcelona, any team - it's difficult when you have a certain class of opponents. But in moments it showed. And what is important is when those moments get into the back of the net. Then it gives a clear picture of what we were trying."
It is for exactly that skill, ability and mind to find solutions against giants that Bafana need to be at Nations Cups. Tau, Bongani Zungu, Thembinkosi Lorch and Ronwen Williams have all grown in stature after this tournament. Notable about this squad was the number of tactically smart players.
"You can give credit to the players, but then I think the coach just figured it out," Tau said. "I think if we had spent more time with what he wanted, it would have been different. Playing our matches we started to feel different. We were getting to see the best of ourselves.
"I think if we'd had a day off before playing Nigeria, it was going to help. When you play a high-pressing game, you get tired. So if you get a day off, get the same energy, then it works."
Bafana took Morocco and Nigeria, in their quarterfinal, to the 90th minute before conceding the losing goal.
SA's lack of preparation matches - and accusations and counter-accusations between Baxter and the SA Football Association - need to come under scrutiny.
Sitting at the team hotel watching the TV replay on Friday, Baxter, for the first time, got confirmation from fellow coaches - sent to him by SMSes - that the corner where William Troost-Ekong scored Nigeria's winner should not have been. The previous corner that led to that corner was a Nigeria header wide, so it should have been a goal-kick.
But it was Baxter's continued alienation of himself from South Africans - notably saying there were "56-million waiting to chop our heads off" - that will make it hard for him to continue successfully.
He could not quite grasp that he lost South Africans' faith in failing to qualify for two World Cups, and had to earn it back.
In what seemed an interview aimed at self-promotion with The Guardian of England, he appeared to try to inflate the hardships of coaching a team in a country with problems. He contrasted his job to Clive Barker's winning the 1996 Nations Cup on a wave of euphoria.
ARROGANCE IS JUSTIFIED
He said this weighs Bafana down. But Baxter works in a country that by African terms is an infrastructure marvel. And he misunderstands the role of Bafana, and football, which gave people relief during apartheid.
Baxter's apparent self-motivation, making noises of moving to better things after the Afcon, came across as mercenary. And yet, do we think Hervé Renard is not a mercenary?
Overall, Baxter's tactics were overly conservative, and his reactions from the bench not up to standard, showing him to be ultimately out of his depth.
What is needed, should Baxter go, is a coach who can preserve the structure, but have the courage to attack.
Renard, leaving Morocco after their shock against Benin, has joined Saudi Arabia. He is immensely impressive up close, his arrogance perhaps justified by two Afcon titles, but could have been a nightmare to work with in a SA context. Milutin Sredojevic needs to win trophies at Orlando Pirates. Benni McCarthy needs experience, because this job is a monster that eats coaches up.
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