South Africa’s national football team coach Stuart Baxter has talked his team’s chances up ahead of Saturday’s AFCON 2019 qualifying game against Nigeria at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.
In an exclusive interview with Complete Football, the two-time coach of the Bafana Bafana revealed how he prepared for the first game on his second stint at the job.
He said: “It will be a big challenge to play against Nigeria away from home. I say so because of the little time of preparations we have had but I have embraced that and I have gained strategies to use on Nigeria. I won’t be defeated by Nigeria by the way, we’ll go there and surprise them. We’ll go there and give them a good run for their money.”
The widely-travelled coach who holds the record as the only man to lead South Africa to victory against Nigeria – a 2-1 win in the Mandela invitational tourney in 2004 – has declared his intention to repeat the feat on Saturday.
“I have done some work on the [Nigerian] squad, their players and I am reading Nigerian newspapers every day to try and find out what they are thinking. I will be honest and say I haven’t had time because of my club commitments and I have had to tell myself that I will take my SuperSport hat off and put on my Bafana hat. It is obviously not perfect for our preparation, but I will get the DVD and all of that, break that down, get their last three games and break those down,” he said.
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