Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter said the result could have been bigger had his strikers converted most of the chances they created after his charge’s 2-0 win over Burkina Faso at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.
”It could have been a different game as well if we had scored four of the 15 chances we created in the first half, I suppose, but the result I would have liked to have been bigger,” he said.
Strikers Benedict McCarthy and Shaun Bartlett and midfielders Benedict Vilakazi and Steven Pienaar were the main culprits for the handful of clear-cut chances missed in front of the goal.
However, Pienaar, redeemed himself when he put Bafana ahead in the 13th minute and Bartlett cleared his name in the 32nd when he put the home side 2-0 up.
The general feeling was that the South African senior soccer team still lack a playmaker, especially from the midfield, like the retired legend Doctor Khumalo, who used to change a boring game into a spectacular affair.
But Baxter, who is still trying to combine a winning combination since taking over the reigns, has managed to guide Bafana to two wins from three outings.
The Englishman said Bafana lost their way in the first 20 minutes and stopped being effective.
”We got it back when I made the substitutions,” he said.
Baxter made a double substitution when he brought on Siyabonga Nomvete and Elrio van Heerden for Vilakazi and the galloping Japhet Zwane respectively, and straight away his team started stringing decent passes together.
”People have said a lot about the team since the loss against Ghana,” said Baxter referring to Bafana’s 3-0 drubbing two weeks ago. ”Some of it was not warranted. We got our weaknesses and we have got our strengths. My job really is to see South African football come out .”
But Burkino Faso did not give Bafana the expected trouble. Instead their below-par performance made Bafana look good.
”I said before the game that to me the most important thing was going to be the performance. We will be doing a debriefing on both the first and the second halves.
”I am not living in any dream land. I just get on with the job. I will work very hard the next two months,” said Baxter.
His opposite number, Todorov Ivica, warned that the ”war was not over yet”. — Sapa
Comfortable win for Bafana Bafana