IT’S very easy for Bafana Bafana to get carried away by the record 6-0 win.
But coach Stuart Baxter isn’t being lulled into a false sense of supremacy, acknowledging Bafana didn’t quite raise a sweat to crush Seychelles in their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at the wet FNB Stadium on Saturday.
Baxter also admitted there was pressure on his team to replicate their five-star performance when they tackle the Indian Ocean minnows in their return fixture at the Stade Linite in Victoria tomorrow at 2.30pm (SA time).
Buoyed by their biggest competitive win in history, Bafana took a direct four-hour flight to Linite, Seychelles yesterday morning and were due to arrive around lunch time.
They sit top of group E with eight points, one ahead of second-placed Nigeria and three more than Libya, who dropped to third after a heavy 4-0 defeat to Nigeria in the other group encounter.
“We can get carried away by the six goals and say it was a good win because we scored six goals.
“But that would be taking away from the performance of the players,” said Baxter.
“It’s a great win for the right reasons.
“For starters we were coming up with the underestimation factor.
“We worked very hard this week to negate that.
“There is pressure to win again, having beaten them 6-0.
“We’ve got a real challenge on our hands to go out there and win.
Baxter applauded his men on a job well done, but reserved special praise for Lebo Mothiba, comparing him to England legend Alan Shearer in how he was leading the attack line.
Mothiba scored his first Bafana goal in a competitive match. Teboho Mokoena and Dino Ndlovu also netted maiden goals, while skipper Thulani Hlatshwayo and Percy Tau got in on the act too.
Another pasting can be expected at Linité Stadium, which would move South Africa to 11 points and leave them needing a draw to secure qualification next month.
Seychelles did look like mere “sponge cakes” and couldn’t quite put up a fight against Bafana.
“But it’s encouraging to see us scoring six goals against anybody,” explained Baxter.
He also reminded his players of the dangers of not destroying lesser sides in the qualifiers.
He said: “If you go back to some of the performances in the World Cup qualifiers, we let ourselves down in the Cape Verde matches that put us in a situation where we had to go up against Senegal and beat them twice. That was a big ask and mentally the players were not up for it.”
This means Bafana can be expected to complete the demolition job tomorrow, before they turn focus on their nemesis Nigeria, who visit next month.
