BAFANA Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has explained the reason why he left out in-form Cape Town City striker Kermit Erasmus from his squad to face Libya.
Erasmus has banged in three goals in his last three games for The Citizens and was expected to be among the players to be named.
However, Baxter opted for lanky forward Lars Veldwijk who has also been scoring goals for Eredivisie side Sparta Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Baxter, who watched Erasmus play for City in a friendly against Swedish outfit BK Hacken recently, said he did consider including the 28-year-old.
“Based on the fact that Kermit has not played a lot until about the last four to five weeks weeks, I think it’s probably reason for us to back off slightly,” said Baxter.
“I think Benni (McCarthy) has done a fantastic job with him and one of the reason behind that is that Kermit plays best when he is loved and appreciated.
“I think Kermit has problems when he is on the periphery because he thinks he is a good player, which he is but maybe doesn’t deal with it too well if he is a squad player.
“Now he is feeling like he is the man in Cape Town and I did not feel like I could give him that in the national team, so based on that I don’t think we would have gotten the best out of him.”
Another surprise inclusion was Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma, who is in the squad as back up to Darren Keet and Ronwen Williams.
Bafana tackle The Mediterranean Knights in a crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Stade Taieb Mhiri in Sfax, Tunisia on the 24th of March.
