Baxter has good reason to smile

Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter had a smile on his face for a change as his side buried ghosts of the past with the 6-0 annihilation of the Seychelles in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier yesterday.

South Africa’s calamities against so-called minnows are well documented, considering how they stumbled in official games against Cape Verde, Gambia and Mauritania in the past three years, and subsequently failed to qualify for major tournaments.

The demolition job on the Seychelles not only met the people’s expectations, but it reignited some hope that South Africa could well carve their own path to the final tournament in Cameroon next year.

“With our history of failing to qualify, I think qualification is the goal. If we wrap it up quickly, that’s nice indeed and everybody will be really happy,” Baxter said at the post-match conference.

The victory ended South Africa’s long wait for a win in Afcon qualifiers since Bafana’s 2-1 triumph over Sudan in 2014.

Goals from Thulani Hlatshwayo, Lebogang Mothiba, Percy Tau, Dino Ndlovu, Teboho Mokoena and an own goal by Nigel Nigel handed Bafana their biggest victory.

It was also a good result considering that Nigeria hit Libya 4-0 in another Group E fixture also on Saturday. Bafana could only yield a goalless draw against Libyans in Durban last month.

“We were talking about goal difference and things like that. We want more of that effort – the move with the ball and combination play,” said Baxter ahead of the return clash with the Seychelles on Tuesday.

Bafana depart for the Indian Ocean nation today with the expectation that they will finish off the job to ward off any potential threat from Nigeria and Libya, who will face each other on Tuesday.

The last time South Africa bulged the net willy-nilly dates back to eight years ago when they demolished Guatemala 5-0 in a 2010 World Cup pretournament warm up match even though it later turned out that the match was part of Fifa’s investigation of suspected match-fixing.

Bafana is expected to pick up another set of maximum points – and possibly more goals – when they take on the Seychelles in Victoria at Stade Linité on Tuesday afternoon. The game kicks off at 2.30pm local time.

– Read more in City Press newspaper today