Coach says SA should have been slicker when moving the ball from defence to attack
Cairo — Bafana Bafana were poor in parts when they were beaten by Ivory Coast in their Africa Cup of Nations opener on Monday, admitted coach Stuart Baxter.But there was a lot that Baxter took encouragement from as the South Africans displayed excellent structure in the heat of the Group D fixture at Al Salam Stadium — a game that kicked off in 37°C heat.
"The second half the same. I think the heat affected both teams, and the tempo dropped. But I thought we were comfortable in the game. One thing you have to give Baxter — is he is brave. He opted for Ronwen Williams in a horses for courses swap with Darren Keet in goal, in a move that would have seen him slammed at home had it backfired."We picked Ronwen because, when we played against Libya in Tunisia [in Bafana’s clinching qualifier in March], we played with three centrebacks, and knew that flank-play would be their strength and there would be lots of crosses.
The result was disappointing, but far from the disaster many appear to have labelled it on social media back home.
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