Stuart Baxter has prematurely called off his Bafana Bafana’s national team camp following their 3-1 win against Burkina Faso due to injuries to key players.
The South African national team held a training session at the FNB Stadium on Sunday following their impressive victory against the Burkinables and Baxter confirmed that he would release players early to their clubs.
The former SuperSport United mentor confirmed that he deliberated with his technical team and arrived at the decision to allow players to leave the camp earlier than expected with injuries to Itumeleng Khune (ankle sprain), Andile Jali (shoulder sprain), Thulani Serero (ankle), Bradley Grobler (ankle), Hlompho Kekana (ankle) and Teboho Langerman (tight calf muscles).
“After serious deliberation with the technical team, we decided that it is not in the best interest of the players to continue with another training session scheduled for Monday,” he told safa.net
“What also pushed us to that decision was the many players carrying injuries and we felt they would be better off if given more time to rest to help them recover quicker.
“We also believe this will help overseas-based players to spend a few more hours with their families than would have been possible before they jet out of the country to return to their clubs. On the other hand, this will assist local-based players to report early at their teams as we want to keep a healthy relationship with all the clubs – both local and overseas,” he added.
Baxter’s side next face Senegal in yet another must-win 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Friday, 10 November 2017 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane with kick off set for 19h00.
Senegal claimed a 2-0 win against Cape Verde and Baxter remains confident that his charges can defy the odds and qualify for the World Cup.
“Senegal’s victory over Cape Verde has tilted the scale slightly in our favour and now we are still very much alive in the qualifiers.
“I have been saying we have to live in the here and now, what happens in the other match is not our concern.
“We have to win the remaining matches and we are off to Russia, anything less we know we are out – because with six points each, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde can only get to nine points, while two wins for us will take us to ten points, so it is very much in our hands,” added Baxter.
“If we thought the clash against Burkina Faso was a World Cup final, the two matches against Senegal are way more than that.
“We need to continue from where we left off against the Burkinabe and if we can have the same aggression and attitude when we face Senegal, then we are very close to realising our dream.
“There’s no doubt in my mind or the players’ that it will be a difficult match but it is very much possible to get positive results, and we have to continue to believe. We would like to thank the fans for the support at FNB Stadium, and we are confident they will do so again in Polokwane,” he concluded.
Photo: Safa.net
-This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za
