South Africa’s Head Coach Stuart Baxter has confirmed he will take full control of the national side in the next two days to prepare for the coming 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria.
Baxter is currently in charge of ABSA Premier League side SuperSport United after agreeing to lead the side in its final League and Cup matches before taking on national team duties.
The British tactician who replaces South African local, Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba opened up about the challenges of holding two head coaching positions.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“I’ll have to be 100 percent honest, I haven’t had the time because of my commitments here at Super Sport…. The next two days, I’ll take my Super Sports hat off, and put my Bafana hat on. It’s not perfect and the preparations will not be perfect.[/perfectpullquote]
“But I’ll get the DVDs, I’ll break that down from their last three games. We played them in a 2-2 game. I saw that and I’ll get that, I’ll break that down, so we’ll do some preparations. But I think the important thing is that I get the squad right, get the right sort of squad,” he said.
Baxter who is finishing up his contract with SuperSport United didn’t travel with the club for the Confederation Cup match against Libreville in Gabon instead, he has been working at the South African Football Association headquarters.
He has promised to change things in his second stint with the side starting with combining both young and experienced players in an attempt to develop the squad. Baxter has also asked SAFA to send out letters requesting the players’ respective clubs to send national team players a couple of days earlier to prepare for a friendly against Mozambique and a possible match against a South African Club.
Baxter’s first challenge will be against an on-form Nigerian side on June 10th at the Akpabio International stadium in Nigeria. The team will also later take on Group E opponents Seychelles and Libya later in the year.
Featured photo: Getty Images
