Baxter in swift decline

In a room at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Nigeria ahead of Bafana Bafana's June Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Uyo, Stuart Baxter played the local press like a concert violinist.

He had the Nigerian media soaking up what he was saying in such a calm and confident display all doubts over his appointment were cast aside.

The next day South Africa beat Nigeria, who had had a three-week camp in France preparing for Bafana's first 2-0 competitive victory against the Super Eagles.

Fast-forward just three months, and Baxter has had two defeats against Cape Verde, two sets of starting lineups that were highly dubious, and two such poor performances the question can be asked: is Baxter the right man to coach Bafana Bafana?

Public sentiment has just turned so far, so quickly against Baxter - never a popular appointment in the first place - it is hard to see him recovering from two defeats that will surely cost Bafana their place at Russia 2018.

Baxter has a knack for walking into a minefield and stepping on all the landmines.

Since his appointment - that was allegedly badly handled by SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan and which did Baxter no favours - the slide has been alarmingly quick.

The coach found himself defending accusations that he had asked for his son, Lee, to be appointed his Bafana goalkeeper-coach - and not convincingly.

Baxter's fussiness was emerging as an attribute that, like predecessor Shakes Mashaba's stubbornness, might be his downfall. Faced with the withdrawals of players that every Bafana coach must deal with, Baxter created a negative energy around the Cosafa Cup and Chan.

But he was also doing a lot of things right. He was meeting with PSL clubs, and talking to their coaches. But he seemed selective in who he was asking advice from, strengthening strong ties that already existed, but perhaps not mending some weaker ones.

The appointment as assistant coach of Quinton Fortune - who had turned his back on Bafana when he was a player - did not help.

His gameplan went awry in Praia, and worse in Durban, where Baxter's weaponry on the bench outweighed what he had on the field, and the result was a conservative eyesore.

So, is Baxter the right man to coach Bafana Bafana? Right now it is not looking good.

But the coach might redeem himself. Bafana might somehow beat Burkina Faso at home and Senegal away and qualify for the World Cup. But if that seems unlikely, so does Baxter's success after this disaster.