Stuart Baxter to 'have a word' with Luther Singh about his casual penalty

Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter said he would "have a word" with Luther Singh about the casual manner in which the striker took his decisive penalty in Bafana Bafana's shootout defeat against Madagascar in their Cosafa Cup quarterfinal.

Bafana initially were in the lead in the penalty shootout at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Sunday‚ but Jamie Webber struck the post‚ then Singh stepped up and casually tried to dummy a shot past goalkeeper Jean Randrianasolo‚ who saved easily.

The South Africans lost the shootout 4-3 having frustratingly spurned chances in the first half‚ then not created as many opportunities in the second‚ though Maphosa Modiba did hit the woodwork‚ to be held to 0-0 in normal time.

Baxter was asked afterwards about Singh's casual approach to his spotkick.

"It concerns me greatly when we don't score goals from chances‚ whether it's a penalty or a chance from open play‚" Baxter said.

"I'll speak to Luther about the way he took his penalty.

"We took penalties in training last night [Saturday] and he scored both of his.

"And that's the thing – I don't think we can ask if Luther was the right one to take the penalty.

"He had two chances in the game.

"Maybe his confidence was a bit low‚ maybe he was a bit nervous‚ maybe it didn't come over as he looked. He looked like he wanted to be casual.

"In the beginning Motjeka Madisha took a very good a penalty‚ and he also looked casual. But if the goalkeeper saves it there's no explanation.

"So it concerns me more the chances that we missed than the penalties that we missed‚ because penalties are penalties.

“But‚ yeah‚ I'll have a little word with him."

Bafana‚ as they did last year in Rustenburg‚ suffer the ignominy of dropping to the Plate section as hosts. They meet Namibia in the Plate semifinals at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Tuesday.

Namibia lost on penalties against Zambia in the quarterfinals.

Plate semifinals:

Tuesday: Namibia v South Africa (Old Peter Mokaba‚ 5pm)

Swaziland v Botswana (Old Peter Mokaba‚ 7.30pm)

Cup semifinals:

Wednesday: Zambia v Madagascar (New Peter Mokaba‚ 5pm)

Lesotho v Zimbabwe (New Peter Mokaba‚ 5pm)

* Marc Strydom is in Polokwane as a guest of Cosafa