Stuart Baxter betwixt and between over Afcon
The national coach says it will be bittersweet as SA misses chance to qualify on own terms against Libya
Hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) could be a huge boost to the continued development of an emerging generation of Bafana Bafana players‚ national coach Stuart Baxter has said. Baxter added that it would be a bittersweet opportunity as he and Bafana had wanted to prove they could qualify by going to Libya for the draw they needed from their final Group E game in March‚ which could also have been an important match in the players’ development. The SA Football Association (Safa) have agreed in principle to honour a plea from the Confederation of Africa Football (Caf) to step in as Afcon 2019 hosts following Cameroon being stripped of hosting the tournament. Safa are awaiting the government’s approval. Baxter said he had not had communication from Safa. “You don’t want to sort of turn off the competitive nature of the Libya game because someo ne’s suddenly given you a free pass‚” Baxter said on Tuesday. “So for me‚ I would say it [hosting Afcon] would be great because our s...
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