Baxter set to ring changes for Cape Verde clash

Bafana gave a tepid display as they lost 2-1 to Cape Verde in Praia on Friday night, though they were give some hope on the road to Russia as Senegal and Burkina Faso played out a goalless draw in Dakar the following day.

That means Bafana are just a point behind Burkina Faso at the top of Group D at the halfway stage of their qualifying campaign.

READ: Baxter blames players’ attitude for Cape Verde loss

Baxter has one change he is forced into tomorrow, with Erick Mathoho suspended after his red card in Praia. The Bafana coach also confirmed he has midfielder Thulani Serero ready again after injury.

“Serero is available, he came to the camp with a proposed hamstring strain … within 48 hours the doctor told me he was available, but I didn’t think it was fair on the rest of the players to bring him onto the bench for the first game – they had been working, he hadn’t.”

It remains to be seen if Serero does start in Durban, but Baxter did indicate he would be setting up his side in a more attacking manner. He also made a frank admission that midfielder Bongani Zungu and forward Lebogang Manyama were not at their best on Friday, perhaps distracted by their deadline day transfers.

Baxter believes Cape Verde will also come here and play in a more boisterous way after their win at home.

“They will be more confident now than they would have been if we had knocked them over at their place,” said Baxter.

“I think you will see a very different Cape Verde now, they will come buoyed by their win, and I think you will see a much more competitive game now. Certainly from our side there is a bit of revenge to reap, on ourselves as well as our opponents … we will certainly be going for it, and so we will probably field a slightly more mobile, offensive team.

“I didn’t think Bongani (Zungu) had his best game (on Friday). You could speculate that both him and Manyama, who completed deals so close to deadline, maybe they weren’t completely in their best mental shape,” added the Bafana coach.

“I thought Bongani (Zungu) and Dean (Furman) did very well together against Nigeria (in an Afcon qualifier in June) so they were 100 percent right to start (against Cape Verde).

“Everyone has got their favourites, someone might like Andile Jali, someone might like (Kamohelo) Mokotjo … but we may see changes, now we know what we are facing and know what we want to do. Maybe there are other players who are a bit better suited to this game.”

READ: Bafana’s World Cup hopes suffer a blow