AS things stand, tonight’s the night!
Over five months, Stuart Baxter has been paid for doing absolutely nothing.
Tonight, we’ll see why Safa spent millions on the Scot.
The Libya game is South Africa’s only hope to go to Egypt where the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) will be held in winter.
But can we trust Baxter?
I believe we can trust our players because they instil hope and confidence.
I say this based on the fact they honoured the camp, currently underway in Tunis, Tunisia, where this Cup of Nations qualifier will be played.
The less said about Baxter, the better. The Scot has disappointed South Africa on many occasions. So, this is the day when his players will be out to fight his battle.
In fact, defeat by Libya means Baxter should not even bother boarding an SAA flight back to Mzansi.
He should rather take a flight straight to Scotland.
Look, this is a matter of love lost between Baxter and many South African football fans who would like to see his back, even if we do qualify to travel to Egypt for the 21 June to 19 July tournament.
Here lies the truth about a typical South African football fan:
If Bafana beat or draw with Libya and qualify for Afcon, the fans will congratulate players because they are the ones in the field doing the work.
But when they lose and not qualify, knives will be out for Baxter.
And we would ask him: what really happened?
I’m not inciting anything here, but just saying what will definitely happen in Sfax.
For once, let me be patriotic and back Bafana to qualify and be counted among other South African national teams for their achievements – these include Banyana Banyana, Bantwana, Amajita and Amajimbos.
Tonight’s game is no different in which we had to haul out calculators and punched in numbers to ascertain whether we are still in good stead to qualify.
I hope Safa boss, Danny Jordaan, is watching and will take drastic measures after this Cup of Nations qualifier.
I, together with millions of South Africans, will be watching the game with bated breath as Lebo Mothiba, Lebohang Maboe, Percy Tau and Thembinkosi Lorch give us hope that they will rattle the back of the net.
