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Bafana Bafana head coach Stuart Baxter this week expressed his satisfaction about how well Percy Tau has adapted during his debut season abroad.
The coach hailed the 24-year-old for being “a good example for South Africans playing abroad” after the striker was nominated for the player of the season award in the Belgian second division.
Baxter has been keeping in touch with Tau at Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, where he is on loan from English Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, which signed him from Mamelodi Sundowns.
“Percy has done a good job adapting to his new life on heavy pitches against bigger, less mobile opponents. He’s become a more dangerous goal scorer than he was here,” said Baxter prior to flying abroad to scout other overseas-based South African players.
“When Percy first went to Belgium, he was a bit flat. They thought he wasn’t working hard,” said Baxter. “It took him a while to get his head around being there.
“His coach, Chris Hughton, showed me the statistics on how he has improved.”
Read: Will Baxter turn to his son again?
While Tau is among those in the overseas-based group who are virtually guaranteed places in the team selected for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals, set to take place in Egypt, Baxter is in Europe to check out little-known defender Joel Untersee, who is currently at Swiss club Zürich.
The tactician will also make a stopover in Denmark to engage SA Under-23 striker Liam Jordan with a view to including the HB Køge player in Bafana’s squad for the Cosafa Cup later this month.
Outlining his preparation plans for Afcon this week, Baxter said the May 25 to June 8 regional tournament in Durban would serve as a trial run to assess players who are on the fringes of Afcon selection.
South Africa was exempted from the group stage and will meet Botswana in the quarterfinals, while Namibia, Bafana’s group opponents at Afcon, will play in the group phase.
This means Namibia will have little information to gather about Bafana during Cosafa.
Baxter has hinted that his assistant, Molefi Ntseki, will guide the team at Cosafa, while he will set up another camp in Johannesburg.
“At the same time as the start of Cosafa‚ probably a few days later‚ we will assemble an approximately 18-man squad in Joburg and await the late arrivals from France or from Mamelodi Sundowns‚” Baxter explained.
Bongani Zungu, Lebo Mothiba and Keagan Dolly are playing in the French Ligue 1 and while Sundowns’ players might not be available they may make it to the CAF Champions League final, scheduled for May 31.
Baxter hopes to secure a warm-up match against one of the north African sides – Algeria or Tunisia – before Bafana trek to Dubai for a final camp.
So far, Ghana has been confirmed to meet South Africa in a warm-up match in the days leading up to Afcon.
The expanded continental tournament, involving 24 nations, runs from June 21 to July 19.
South Africa will open its campaign against Ivory Coast in Cairo on June 24. The other country in Group D is Morocco, who they face on July 1.
