Stuart Baxter, head coach of South Africa (Gavin Barker/BackpagePix)
In the current state of affairs in the country I cannot think of anything more useless and a waste of time than the state capture commission of inquiry, which is essentially trying to dig down to the bone of how the Gupta mafias held the country by the proverbial under the Jacob Zuma years.
Wait a minute, actually, the Raymond Zondo commission is not the most useless thing right now – Stuart Baxter is. The Scotland-born mentor is failing to live up to expectations at Bafana and to put it quite blunt; he is not doing a great job. If the South African Football Association are to hold on to Baxter and his oozing arrogance, then they are doing the football community a grave injustice.
So what Mr Baxter if you have Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho on speed dial? As he bragged about how the duo waxed lyrics about the performance against Egypt. We really don’t care because the bottom line is that you failed and that needs to be underlined in bold and capital letters.
Yes, it is true that we all punched the air and hoisted our beer bottles high when Thembinkosi Lorch netted that winner against Egypt to knockout the hosts. It was a great moment but it sadly lasted shorter than an orgasm because we were knocked out immediately afterwards by Nigeria. You lost to a weaker Nigeria than that which we beat 2-0 in Uyo.
And oh, it’s incredible how you’d describe a fluke win as the greatest moment in your career. But then again, what do you expect from a man who allegedly once forged his own curriculum vitate? That’s a story for another day.
You want to talk tactics maybe? Sure, I’ll start. In the second group match, we conceded from a header in the dying moments of the game.
Quarterfinal, same story. As a coach, you were supposed to find a way to guard against it when you’ve seen it cost us in the group stages.
Come on now, that’s what we pay you for. It is your job. You have failed the nation and it is time for you to go. After all, you are not desperate for the job, right? Also: you are as good as your last game and no one needs to remind you how that went down.
You have all the ingredients in terms of players but what you have managed is to put together an appetizing recipe that tastes otherwise.
While I understand that our football challenges are way bigger than you, Safa need to appoint one of our own to get our house in order.
That is the reboot button that we need.
We played nice and forgave you when you lost to Cape Verde twice.
Twice, Baxter! Kodwa nje kwangathi sos’jwayela kabi (not taking us seriously). We’ve sadly ran out of forgiveness and patience.
Mr Baxter, you have to go, finish and klaar!
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