Nervousness from a young combination who had not played together resulted in Bafana Bafana not always playing to instruction in their penalties Cosafa Cup defeat against Madagascar at Peter Mokaba Stadium, coach Stuart Baxter said afterwards.
The defeat sees the hosts drop to the Plate, where they meet Namibia in that section’s semifinal today at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium at 5pm.
Baxter’s young, developmental Bafana created three clear chances against Madagascar, which they spurned, in the first half, then only managed one, Maphosa Modiba hitting the post, in the second.
Madagascar, having tried to attack a little in the first half, went completely into their shell, playing for penalties, in the second.The young South Africans were unable to respond, their buildups too slow, and failing to switch from a transition approach to a pressing game as Madagascar sat back, Bafana losing 4-3 in the penalty shootout.
Baxter was asked about the positives and negatives he would raise reviewing the video evidence.
“The positive part, I think, is that when we played the way we discussed, I thought we did well,” the coach said.
“When we played through them quickly, when we didn’t take too long to build up and we allow them to get set, and we threatened in-between and behind their defenders, I thought we looked OK, and we created chances.
“But when we overplayed, when we played too slowly, when players weren’t in position quickly enough, then Madagascar could move and keep in a bloc, and it makes it very difficult to pick your way through.
“Is it fair to say that a group who have been together for five or six days, should do all of that all of the time? Maybe that’s unfair of me.
“What we didn’t do very well was the opposite of that. We played too slowly, we didn’t compress the game at the right time and there were only bits of a counterpress.
“But that’s because we hadn’t been together a long time and some of these young players were a bit nervous today.”
The Bafana coach said, given he had brought such a young team to the Cosafa with the aim of introducing and developing them at international level, there was still much to be gained from the tournament for Bafana.
“The international experience that we want to give this young team doesn’t change if you are playing against Madagascar or Namibia [in the Plate],” he said.
“Of course we would rather have been playing in the main trophy... It’s probably invaluable for the three young players – Lyle Foster, Luther Singh and Jamie Webber – to have been in a penalty shootout representing their country.
“So we’ll just keep on working. There’s no silver bullet. You’ve got to keep believing in the policy that you had going into the tournament.
“The reason we didn’t have the big-name players was that wanted to invest international time into the younger players.”
South Africa also went to the Plate as hosts in last year’s competition in Rustenburg, losing 1-0 against Tanzania in the quarterfinals.
Bafana then beat Botswana and Namibia to win the Plate.
Plate semifinals:
Today:
Namibia v South Africa (Old Peter Mokaba, 5pm)
Swaziland v Botswana (Old Peter Mokaba, 7.30pm)
Cup semifinals:
Tomorrow:
Zambia v Madagascar (New Peter Mokaba, 5pm)
Lesotho v Zimbabwe (New Peter Mokaba, 5pm)
Marc Strydom is in Polokwane as a guest of Cosafa..