It’s hard enough completing an intricate jigsaw puzzle, but when some of the most important pieces are missing — as in the case of Stuart Baxter’s planning for the critical World Cup qualifying matches against Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo — it’s hardly surprising the Bafana Bafana coach finds himself more than a little bemused.
Not that the articulate Baxter is responsible for the chaos and confusion that seems a trademark in South African soccer planning, but at the least appropriate moment he finds himself as the reluctant beneficiary of a situation whereby the Cosafa Cup semifinals and final are due to take place over the same weekend as the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL) launch of the Supa8 tournament.
”I had hoped to field a squad similar to that which accounted itself so well in the Gold Cup tournament in the United States in the Cosafa Cup,” said the Bafana coach, ”and follow this up with a mix of the best local and overseas players in a friendly against Colombia in Europe on August 17.
”Now it looks as though the plan could be still-born with the prospect of players from the top eight PSL clubs not being available for the Cosafa Cup,” added Baxter, ”and that means going into the following game against Colombia with a good number of unanswered questions.”
But that is not where Baxter’s dilemma ends. The Bafana coach admitted the arrangements for the Colombian fixture remain in the melting pot, with a suitable venue in Europe still to be finalised.
”Safa [the South African Football Association] are presently frantically busy trying to sort out the logistics for the game after the South Americans approached us during the Gold Cup tournament,” said Baxter, ”and I’m holding thumbs this much-needed warm-up materialises before the World Cup qualifier against Burkina Faso early in September.”
Talk of completing a puzzle and not having all the pieces. — Sapa