Bafana Bafana of South Africa coach, Stuart Baxter is banking on lessons learnt by his squad over the years and in recent time to eke out victory against Nigeria in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Although the British soccer tactician admitted his side’s 2-0 away win from the first leg played in Uyo broke a jinx of several years of defeats by Nigeria, he insists the players should not let it get to their heads.
On the contrary, footballlive.nbg gathered that Baxter is calling for a level-headed approach to Saturday’s match at FNB Stadium, with an equal dose of self-belief and caution to help them carry the day and move closer to AFCON 2019.
Baxter said he is hoping his charges have dispelled the belief that they cannot beat Nigeria but also wants to guard against overconfidence in the camp, ahead of the match on on November 17.
Having been haunted by inconsistency, shown in their goalless draws at home to Libya in September and away to Seychelles last month, it is still an air of trepidation hanging over The Rainbow Nation.
Their win in Uyo last year ended a 25-year winless streak against the Eagles and Baxter hopes that performance will serve as a reminder of their capabilities ahead of this weekend’s encounter.
Baxter added: “If we play well and we produce good South African football, a lot of motivation and a lot of focus on a game-plan that will also stop them from playing, then we have a chance.
“I think, if anything, we should learn that there’s a lot of hard work behind it, the word ‘sacrifice’ comes to mind.
“If players are not prepared to do that, then we’ll maybe get the same sort of results that we fear getting, (and) we’ve had too many of them.
“So, again, we learn from every event and I hope that we’ve learnt enough so that we don’t reproduce what we don’t want to see.”
