After Stuart Baxter was hired by the South African Football Association (Safa) at the sole discretion of president Danny Jordaan, three things were on the table for the Briton.
- Qualification for the 2018 Fifa World Cup final tournament.
- Qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
- Identification of a sufficient pool of talent for the men's senior national team from a diversity of sources including from the junior national teams.
As the dust settles on Bafana's Afcon appearance where they reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2013, it's opportune to evaluate whether he has met the outcomes of his key performance areas.
QUALIFICATION FOR FIFA WORLD CUP
Bafana were firmly in control of their fate to reach destination Russia when Baxter assumed the reins, two games into the campaign. They topped Group D with four points - a draw with Burkina Faso and a win over Senegal.
What followed was a slide down a slippery slope as the team spun out of control. Mighty Cape Verde crippled Bafana's campaign with a famous back-to-back double.
Sympathisers will signal that Bafana were stripped three points when the victory over Senegal was nullified and Fifa ordered a replay. This was after Ghana referee Joseph Lamptey, who handled the match, was found to have been a match-fixing thug and the Court of Arbitration in Sport rejected his appeal against a life ban. Still Baxter had six points to play for. Baxter lost both the home and away games to Senegal as Bafana sank to the bottom of the group. With that, the World Cup dream evaporated like morning dew under the sun.
The victory against Burkina Faso was the only saving grace. Five games. Four losses. Four points. Failure to secure a World Cup spot for the second time. "I don't need to stay here [SA]. I can get another job," was an angered Baxter's response to the Sunday Times. He stayed. Go figure.
QUALIFICATION FOR THE 2019 AFCON
This project got off to a stunning start. Few football fans will forget June 10 2017.
Beating the Super Eagles 2-0 in their own backyard, a bursting-to-the-seams Godswill Akpabio International stadium in Uyo is a sensational result on any given Saturday. Goals by Tokelo Rantie and Percy Tau clawed back the credibility and integrity of the green and yellow jersey.
We pulled a Bheki Cele: stomach in, chest out and added a spring in our step for good effect from Hillbrow in Jozi down to Point Road in Durban whenever we bumped into the Naija brothers who had become so cocky as to refer to Bafana as their wives. Baxter burst the bubble as Bafana returned to their dull ways in Group E.
A concoction of pastry chefs, air-conditioner fixers and hotel staffers were handed a right royal half-a-dozen beating at FNB. But a wasteful team conducted a photo-shoot in their speedos and shot blanks, settling for a goalless draw. A lacklustre goalless display saw Itumeleng Khune's heroics spare Bafana's blushes with stupendous saves to deny Rabie Alshadi and Ali Mohamed. We were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw in the return match against Nigeria, who had a legitimate goal disallowed for an offside that never was. A solid show by Percy Tau secured qualification.
IDENTIFICATION OF TALENT
One of the moments that linger in mind from the 2016 Olympics was how Abbubaker Mobara bottled Brazil star Neymar. What Sfiso Hlanti did in putting Mohamed Salah in his pocket, we had seen Mobara do to Neymar. To a planner that performance would have been a pointer that the then 22-year-old rightback deserved a step up.
Ditto Luther Singh. Widely regarded as one of SA's brightest prospects, Singh, 21, shone in the Olympic preliminary qualifier against Angola. The Tebogo Mokoenas and Aubrey Modibas of this country, 22 and 23 respectively, show pleasing progress for club but haven't been given promise for country by a man who has coached them and always boasts that he likes working with players he likes.
Surely if Baxter was serious about creating a sufficient pool of talent for the future, he could have found a place for Singh in his squad a'la Bruce Bvuma who tagged along to Egypt for the experience.
Clive Barker benched Benni McCarthy for eternity, believing the boy was too young for Bafana. Jomo Sono gambled at Afcon 98. It paid off handsomely, McCarthy scoring four goals (it has never been repeated) in a match for Bafana. His seven goals took Bafana to the final and he finished joint top scorer with seven and player of the tournament.
EGYPT ESCAPADES
We can't look at Bafana's Afcon performance in isolation. We had one great game out of five and managed only three goals. Mark Fish and Andre Arendse's names are etched in the annals of SA soccer for eternity. But their screaming in juvenile celebration following Bafana's elimination of Egypt was accompanied by the duo's inexplicable enthusiasm in cocking a snook to South Africans who dared to criticise the anti-football, ho-hum approach of the group stages. Don't they get it? These are the same people who shouted for Bafana in '96 and are terribly pained by the pale shadow of themselves they've become.
Videos of the '96 heroes showing Arendse telling Ronwen Williams not to come off his line when he is not going to get to the ball and Fish telling the defenders to switch on until the final whistle would have made better sense. Had he showed the same amount of energy for his scouting role as he clearly did in carrying out his unofficial cheerleading duties for this man who says we are poor, we have no electricity and, no hope now, we know better. Was the planning for the Nigeria game piss poor because the so-called scout was too busy fulfilling his cheer-leading duties?
VERDICT
Baxter is bromidic and his approach is a burden on the players who love having the ball and playing on the front foot. The exciting result over Egypt was evidence.
Defensive discipline and maintaining structure is part and parcel of planning in football. It cannot be THE defining tactical strategy. In the catalogue of a coach must be an uncanny ability to read the game and effect substitutions - timeously - that will positively affect the match.
It is said that the distance between dreams and reality is action. The dream of being in the top three bracket in Africa and 20 in the world will stay pie in the sky for as long as the Safa House cage remains unrattled.
Is Jordaan surrounded by minions to whom he says jump and they are already midair before they ask how high, big boss?
Has Safa become a soccer version of Animal Farm where Napoleon is always right? Do the people who sit there see absolutely nothing wrong in the organisation is expected to drown in a decadence of over a R100m deficit? Has anyone questioned why Ernst & Young left the room? Are they playing muzzled puppets because they fear that the puppet master will dry the tap of patronage?
Both Jordaan and Baxter's blood boil when the folly of their ways is pointed out. They beat that patronising, downgrading path
Do these people care about the wellbeing of the game? Baxter can go. But for as long as the Safa administrators continue conducting the circus without scrutiny, for as long as hard questions are not asked from within, for as long as they rush to hold press conferences singing for their supper, Rome will continue to burn.
Both Jordaan and Baxter's blood boil when the folly of their ways is pointed out. They beat that patronising, downgrading path. There is too much negativity, Baxter often barks. All the national teams have qualified for major tournaments, Jordaan often rejoices, conveniently forgetting selfsame teams return home with their tails firmly locked between their legs.
Those who are prepared to gather in the gallery and be strung along for this tomfoolery of the Jordaan administration can play a happy-clappy congregation all they want. Can we risk having Baxter for Afcon 2021 and 2022 Qatar World Cup? If this is Jordaan's idea of a national team head coach than both him and this charlatan deserve to board the same lift on their way out of Safa House. There is too much going wrong in SA. Baxter is right. The biggest wrong is a national association appointing a coach who has previously failed.
Twitter: @bbkunplugged99
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