Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter is not one to count his chickens before they hatch and has urged the nation to do the same as the team battles for a place in next year’s Fifa World Cup in Russia.
Bafana are on the back foot after faltering in the 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde last Friday in a game they were expected to win.
Baxter’s charges were expected to collect six points – home and away — from the so-called whipping boys in Group D‚ but the first leg proved that Cape Verde still have some fight in them.
Bafana now have to redeem themselves when they face the same opponents at Moses Mabhida Stadium here in Durban on Tuesday (7pm)‚ but the Briton is treading very carefully after his side’s humbling defeat in Praia.
“Every game we’ve played (in the group)‚ people say it’s a must-win and with Cape Verde‚ people said we must take six points‚” Baxter said.
“I have to say with all due respect in South Africa we love putting everything on a knife edge‚ you know and I don’t know‚ maybe it suits the mentality but we do that and very easily we are talking a big sweep.
“I think we have to try to concentrate on the game at hand and that is this one‚ therefore it does become an important.
“We need to be here and now‚ very present and in those terms‚ you are correct it’s an important game‚” he said.
The former England U19 mentor also scoffed at a query about how many points Bafana would need to get to Russia and insisted that he’s not going to get ahead of himself by counting the points that are not in the bag.
“I’ve got no idea my friend‚ I’ve got no idea. I mean‚ football is so strange.
“You can do your mathematical estimations and then you say you don’t need that‚ you do need that and then you don’t and then you do.
“You drive yourself a little bit crazy. So I’m not one of those coaches that start working out (a points tally) before the fact‚” Baxter stated.
“It’s about taking every game as it comes‚” he added.
by Tiyani Mabasa — TimesLIVE