BAFANA Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has come to the defence of SA U-20 national men’s team coach Thabo Senong after a disappointing campaign at the U-20 Fifa World Cup in Poland.
Amajita crashed out of the tournament at the first hurdle for the second time in a row after bowing out at the same stage in 2017 in South Korea.
They finished bottom of Group F with only a single point in three matches.
They were thrashed 5-2 by Argentina in the first match and then edged 1-0 by Korea Republic before holding Portugal to a 1-1 draw in their last group match.
Senong has been heavily criticised for his tactics during the tournament with many feeling he could have been more attacking in his approach.
However, Baxter believes the team has made a lot of progress under Senong who is the first South African coach to have qualified for back-to-back U20 FIFA World Cup tournaments.
“To start with, the positive thing is that we qualified for the tournament,” said Baxter.
“A top class international tournament was put into a group of South African players, which is positive.
“Of course our feelings are always tainted by the result, it’s difficult to see the positives when you lose.
“While we as coaches talk about development, other people say well you still lost, that’s the way of the world.”
Amajita have not had the best of times at the World Cup, having reached the knockout stages of the tournament only once in four attempts.
Their best finish at the tournament came in 2009 when it was staged in Egypt – they reached the Last-16 under the tutelage of Serame Letsoaka.
Baxter believes the players would have acquired some much needed experience at a high level, which is good for their development.
“I’m sure Thabo has learned something and so have the players, in the bigger picture that will help us moving forward,” added Baxter.
“But it is difficult at the time because people are depressed because of the result.”
