Can Stuart Baxter be the guy that turns the Bafana Bafana ship around and build a culture of winning football in South Africa?

It would be understandable if you thought Stuart Baxter isn’t the best fit for the Bafana job. Firstly, he was hired after SAFA fired beloved Shakes Mashaba over some bull shit and secondly, his team’s performance in the World Cup qualifiers was embarrassing, to say the least. As you know an international coach is judged on whether his side qualifies for the World Cup or not, rather than how many irrelevant soccer nations he can beat up in the Cosafa Cup.

I have to admit, in the beginning, I was like you, I hated Baxter’s guts and his prissy English accent. I wanted South Africa to put all the blame on him for Bafana’s failure to qualify for Russia 2018 but, after a few therapy sessions and realising it’s just a game, I did a complete 180 degrees.

No, I am not bipolar. It’s just that we fail to appreciate the difficulty of the task he has on his hands, not only does he have to pick from a pool of good yet mediocre players but his bosses are a bunch on pinheads. Stuart Baxter looks determined and ready to right his wrongs, if we let him go now are we sure we can get a better coach at his price, experience and his enthusiasm?

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His team started well, winning its first game against Nigeria in an AFCON qualifier then it lost the next game against Zambia in an International Friendly. 1 out of 2, not too shabby start.

Things got bad when Bafana lost their World Cup qualifier game against Cape Verde Island* and miraculously repeated the same feat by losing to them again four days later.

*If you don’t know where, who, and what are the Cape Verde Islands, it is a country with a population of 539 560 people (the Northern Cape-South Africa’s smallest province- has 1,146 million) and it’s best known for its warm tropical climate, volcanic islands, wonderful musicians, and delicious cuisine NOT for its football. 

The two losses were devastating it was the beginning of the end for Bafana Bafana’s ‘Destination Russia’ campaign and the beginning of my Psychiatric visits.

Stuart Baxter was announced as new Bafana Bafana coach on the 4th of May 2017 . This gave him five months to prepare for South Africans crucial game against the Cape Verde Islands on the 1st of September that year. Twenty weeks might seem like a long time but for an international football coach its more like two weeks because they don’t have their players throughout that time.

In the two games against the Wonderful Musicians, his team didn’t look organised as well as his disciplined Kaizer Chiefs and Supersport United teams were. This was a lack of preparation but not his part, this is SAFA’s fault.

Shakes Mashaba was fired on the 5th of December 2016 why did it take the governing body so long for them to hire a new coach?  A good five months was wasted. Baxter and his staff could not scout the players they wanted in time and in doing so couldn’t find a consistent team. Baxter kept chopping and changing his back four combinations.  Thirteen games into his second stint as Bafana coach Baxter still didn’t know what his starting line up was.

Another reason he may have found it difficult is the players he has at his disposal. It’s a great myth in South Africa that we have good enough players to compete with the best in Africa when, in reality, we don’t. Do me a favour, one Saturday afternoon sit down and watch a PSL game. Nobody loves the league more than I do but you have to admit the quality of soccer is low and our football has been on the decline for some years now.

In his first press conference as coach of Bafana, Baxter promised to give young players an opportunity and he has been a man of his word. He picked a youthful team for Saturday’s AFCON qualifier against Libya. He is doing what I, and many others, have been calling for as South Africans for years, get rid of the old farts and bring in youngsters who are hungry to represent their country. That’s how Spain, Germany, and France became world champions and how Ghana became a force in the early 2010’s.

Consistency is key, Baxter will definitely get his combination right with his young crop of players. Qualifying for the major tournament should be secondary, growth and a culture of winning football are what we need and I think Baxter is the right man for the job.