Have Bafana finally turned the corner?

Horrendous pitch? Tick. The Stade Taieb Mhiri surface resembled the collage of a four year-old with few artistic skills, and with a particular fondness for different shades of green.

Intimidating atmosphere? Tick. Even though the game was played on neutral territory in Tunisia, plenty of fans of the Desert Foxes made the short trip across the border, creating a hostile environment. Bafana not only managed to silence the crowd, with both of Percy Tau’s strikes audibly puncturing their vocal chords, they also reduced them to throwing bottles on the field at the end, behaviour that symbolised a battle won by Bafana.

Poor refereeing. Tick. There is an argument that Darren Keet’s foot was high on Libya striker Anis Saltou, as he came to collect a through-ball in the second half of Sunday’s game, and caught Saltou in the face, and thus Moroccan referee Noureddine el Jaafari was right to point to the spot.

Nonsense. In my opinion. Keet was clearly jumping for the ball, and made minimal contact with Saltou, who went down dramatically.

And yet still Bafana qualified, and they did so with a win too, a statement that was needed for Baxter, a man under pressure almost ever since he took the job for a second time.

The win in Nigeria in Bafana’s first Afcon qualifier proved a false dawn, and it would have almost certainly proved the end of the Bafana head coach’s tenure if he had lost to Libya on Sunday.

In Sfax, South Africa were resilient when necessary in the first half, with Keet exceptional, and incisive in the second, through the boot of the incredible Tau. When this diminutive 24-year-old picks up the ball, he is one of those players that immediately raises excitement, with his ability to run at defenders, and his keen eye for goal too. He has clearly sharpened up his skills in Belgium too, and his finishes on Sunday were simply world-class, as was the fact that they each came from a different foot.

With this kind of performance, English Premier League side Brighton should be analysing exactly what kind of loophole they might be able to exploit to get Tau his work permit.

For Baxter, meanwhile, there is the satisfaction of coaching in an Africa Cup of Nations finals, as he quit the team in 2003 despite guiding them to the 2004 Afcon in Tunisia. That is provided that the Bafana head coach is not fed up enough with the South African Football Association to walk out on them before the 2019 tournament in Egypt in June.

Baxter was widely linked with a move to Kaizer Chiefs before this season started, with rumours abounding of his frustrations at a lack of support from the governing body. The greater likelihood is that Baxter will stay, but whether he will remain beyond the Afcon finals looks, at this stage, unlikely.

There is a caveat, too, amid all the excitement about Bafana’s qualification. This was, in essence, an easier Africa Cup of Nations to qualify for than any before it, with the number of participating countries increased from 16 to 24. This is seen, with all due respect to the likes of Tanzania, Kenya, Mauritania and Namibia, in the fact that these countries will also be at Egypt 2019.

Bafana still left it rather late to make it to the party, in fact they were the last team to qualify, but there is an exciting group of players who might just make an impact in Egypt.
In Tau, Lebo Mothiba, Kamohelo Mokotjo, and possibly a returning Keagan Dolly and Bongani Zungu, there is the core of a fine side. And at the very least, they have given themselves a shot at showing off their abilities in June.

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