Baxter says he had 15-20 players in mind for Cosafa Cup

Phokeng - Stuart Baxter is looking to the Cosafa Castle Cup and next month’s Africa Cup of Nations Championship (CHAN-2017) qualifiers to “build capacity” for future Bafana Bafana teams even if he has been forced to scratch around for players to be able to field a team.

“The important thing for me is that we have a strategy‚" he told TimesLIVE at the Bafana base in Phokeng on Tuesday.

"For too long the Cosafa and the CHAN has come as an unwelcome guest that we’ve got no real use for.

"It doesn’t do us any use if we win it and it doesn’t hurt us much if we lose. The clubs especially have looked at it as just an imposition.”

Both tournaments fall outside the FIFA international calendar so clubs‚ who are just beginning their pre-season training‚ are unwilling to release players‚ which Baxter says he fully understands.

South Africa have a pick-up selection for the Cosafa Castle Cup‚ where they are defending champions and join the tournament at the quarter-final stage at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on Sunday.

They then play home and away next month against Botswana in the CHAN-2018 qualifiers‚ although likely with a different looking squad.

“When we approached it‚ I said to SAFA we have to find something in there that serves us.

"And what we decided was that we would use the under-20s who have just been to the World Cup (in South Korea) as a base‚ helping their development towards the next Olympics‚ plus pick up a few of the players who are of interest to the senior national team so that we can get a better look at them.”

Baxter said he was delighted‚ with that idea in mind‚ to have Lehlogonolo Maselesa in the squad.

“I haven’t seen him for a while‚ he’s playing now in Greece and it’s interesting to me to see how he has come on.

"We’ve done well to get him into the camp and if we can get a few more with the same kind of profile then that also serves a purpose.

“We also just don’t want to throw a young team to the lions‚ so we also got a couple of experienced campaigners.

"That’s how we picked up Mario Booysen‚ who is about to go back to Mamelodi Sundowns from SuperSport.”

Baxter said he had between 15-20 players in mind that the clubs refused to release.

“But I think we have found enough purpose that win‚ draw or lose‚ we will get something out of this tournament.”

The South African Football Association‚ at logger heads with Premier Soccer League clubs last month over releasing players for the U-20 World Cup‚ now look to have dropped their confrontational approach and taken a much more conciliatory tone.

On Monday they sent out a press release in which Baxter thanked clubs who had released him players.

The new coach said he had called up many team managers and coaches looking for players and would continue an open dialogue with them over future team selections.

- TimesLIVE