By Daily Sports on August 28, 2017
Why fix something that is not broken? That is the logic behind Stuart Baxter’s selection of his 25-man squad set to take on Cape Verde in a two-legged 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier with the first match pencilled for Friday, 1 September 2017, at the National Stadium away in Praia, before the return on Tuesday, 5 September 2017 in Durban.
The South African trainer only made four changes to the squad that astonishingly overcame Nigeria 2-0 in a Total Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2019 qualifier in Uyo last June, with Supersport United defender, Morgan Gould, the notable surprise, having last featured for Bafana Bafana four years ago.
Midfielder Thulani Serero who missed the Nigeria clash makes a return to the team having found a new lease on life at Dutch club, SBV Vitesse, just as Daylon Klaasen of South African champions, Bidvest.
Baxter who has been trusted with resurrecting the hopes of Bafana Bafana said the back- to-back clashes allow very little room for experiments.
“It is important that I keep the vibe going in the squad and that is why we can’t afford to make too many changes to the team. There aren’t a lot of new faces and this means there will be continuation from the previous camp we had,” said Baxter.
A win for Bafana will boost their place on the standings and keep them in the race for a ticket to Russia but they have their work cut out against a Cape Verde side, pointless after two matches.
South Africa share top spot in Group D with Burkina Faso on four points each, after narrowly edging Senegal 2-1 at home and managing a 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou.
“There aren’t easy games in football anymore. We cannot let the group standings fool us in any way. Our preparations will be serious and we won’t allow complacency to creep in. They have good players who also play in Europe so they will come at us and we need to be ready,” cautioned Baxter.
•Photo shows Stuart Baxter.
Source Daily Sports
Posted August 28, 2017
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