Baxter on the good and the bad of the Fifa break

Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter says the Fifa break can either be good or bad for a team based on situations. If a team were experiencing a bad run, the break can only be good. 

But, like in Chiefs’ situation the club were on a high, it could be bad in that it could break the rhythm.

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“These Fifa breaks are sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse,” said Baxter to the club’s website.

“ We came up with a good result in the derby (against Orlando Pirates) and I think everybody would really like to just kick on. We have quite a few players going away for national duty. 

“Sometimes they play, sometimes they don’t play, and they come back and they’ve got a little bit to do. Every coach would prefer to have their players together all the time. 

“It knocks you back a little bit. But the lads worked hard, took a day or so to get back in the groove, and then they’ve been working at their game. The last few days we’ve been working specifically on the Maritzburg (United) game.”

Amakhosi return to DStv Premiership action with a tricky encounter against Maritzburg away at Harry Gwala Stadium on Sunday afternoon – the game kicks off at 5.30pm. 

“We know Maritzburg quite well, we know their players quite well. We know that Ernst (Middendorp) is a coach who likes to surprise and change things up to suit the opponent. 

“You have to go into the Maritzburg game knowing the principles that they use and knowing the possibilities that can happen. 

“And then you have to really create a game plan that we can change if we need to ratchet it up to kill the game,” said Baxter.