It was never supposed to end this way for the affable Englishman who arrived here with a suitcase full of promise.
Now, even the most ardent believer in Stuart Baxter should know that the coach with a penchant for smart blazers and silk ties is fulfilling his contractual obligations by playing the last matches of what started out as 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Baxter’s days as coach are coming to an end.
Bafana Bafana’s most recent match ended in a humiliating 4-1 defeat at the hands of Iceland, a country whose entire population — 296 731 by July this year, according to the CIA World Factbook — is about the same as that of mining town Carletonville — on the West Rand but soon to be shipped off to the North West.
This weekend, the once feared and respected South Africa take on Burkina Faso away. Next week is off to Germany for a friendly against the three-time world champions.
Anyone with an inkling of local football knowledge would know that technically better coaches, such as Carlos Queiroz, were fired for not adding that something extra in the squad while someone statistically better than Baxter, Shakes Mashaba, lost his job for lacking the bigger picture of what the national team was supposed to be — leverage for TV rights and sponsors lolly, while ensuring that agents of players plying their trade overseas were reasonably happy.
In fairness to the Briton, he kept the agents happy while it lasted.
It was also under his tutelage that the public broadcaster extended its mandate beyond merely covering the national pastime.
It is unprecedented in the history of the national football team that the national broadcaster has actually spent time and money convincing South African football fans that they need to support the team, as was done with Operation Siyanqoba.
But Baxter’s tenure has not been a complete failure. As befitting a native English speaker, Baxter has succeeded in breathing life to the time-worn clichés that roll off the soccer public’s collective tongue.
For the first time since readmission to international football, to say Bafana Bafana will be involved in a ”must win” ”do or die” ”crunch match,” or ”crucial” match sounds apt.
All this courtesy of Baxter’s having the unfortunate distinction of being the first Bafana Bafana coach to lose — twice — to Ghana, a team that had previously not even scored against South Africa.
Now all Ghana need do is match whatever result South Africa achieves. Even in the unlikely event that Bafana sneak through, it will not be a reflection of Baxter’s gifts of motivation but rather Ghana’s lack of nerve when it mattered most.
But after next week’s German excursion, Baxter would be able to tell his next employers that he succeeded in the mandate given: take the team to Germany. Pity he missed the fine print referring to the small matter of the World Cup finals held in that country in 2006.