Complete Football Edition 9

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW...EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW...EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Nigeria’s Super Eagles have an intimidating
dominance over Bafana Bafana
Cameroun will represent Africa at the FIFA
Confederations Cup in Russia
NIGERIA v SOUTH AFRICA 2019 AFCON QUALIFIER:
HOW
I BEAT
NIGERIA
BEFORE
-BAXTER
16
COMPLETE FOOTBALL
Gabon’s Pierre Aubameyang flying Africa’s flag
high in the Bundesliga with the top scorer’s award
outh Africa manager Stuart
SBaxter holds the record of
being in charge when the
Bafana Bafana defeated Nigeria's
Super Eagles albeit in a friendly
game. 13 years after, he looks back
on that historic victory and reckons
he can do it again on June 10 when
both sides meet in Uyo, Nigeria...
Stuart Baxter is the only coach to have led
a Bafana Bafana team to victory over
Nigeria. Now in his second spell in charge,
the Englishman recalls how he did it back
in 2004.
On 17 November 2004, Baxter's Bafana
Bafana beat the Super Eagles 2-1 with
goals by Shaun Bartlett and Benedict
Vilakazi in a friendly international. It is the
only time Bafana Bafana have beaten
Nigeria at senior international level.
“We (South Africa) shouldn't feel inferior to
Nigeria. It's no help looking at their players
and seeing which clubs they play for. That
is only on paper. Before our game in 2004,
they were all talking about beating South
Africa 4-0 ahead of our game, but we
forgot about that and just played our game,”
Baxter begins.
“What South Africa needs to do is not to get
worried about past statistics and history. The
current players can create their own
future and mentally they should just get
ready to focus on the job.
“Tactically, you have to play your game the
way you want and that's what I try to do it.
The focus should be on the way we play,
not how to stop Nigeria.
“In 2004 it was the same. We wanted to
perfect the way we played at that time and
when we won the ball, we wanted to get at
them quickly and attack.”
Baxter said he hopes to press Nigeria and
mark them tight, not allowing them to play
their normal game. When in the Nigeria
danger area, he said he wants his players
to run at them and attack.
“They (Nigeria) can tend to take a bit of
time on the ball, both defensively and on
attack. They are powerful and so they can
hold onto the ball, so the idea to press
them is a good one. I would say that we
need to press them as a team unit rather
than as individual players. It's very similar
to what we did in 2004.”
COMPLETE FOOTBALL
17