Bafana face a do-or-die encounter, having to keep Libya at bay in their final Group E qualifying encounter on Sunday evening, with the North Africans aiming for victory in order to topple the South Africans from the second qualification spot in the group.
One thing for sure is that The Mediterranean Knights are desperate for maximum points and thus cannot afford to adopt a defensive approach, while Baxter would do well to avoid sitting back and inviting the home side to come at them.
The British tactician has assured they will by no means go in to ‘park the bus’ but is adamant they will need to place a considerable amount of focus on remaining defensively sound.
“I think we can go there and defend, but I don’t think we can go there and park the bus, thinking we’ll stay in our own defensive third for 90 minutes,” said Baxter.
“I don’t think that’s the sort of mentality we have, and I don’t think that’s the sort of team we have. I think the game plan has to be quite aggressive, with great attention towards our defending, without having that desire to get at their throats at every opportunity.
“So, we obviously don’t know how they’re thinking – they may be thinking, ‘For goodness sake, don’t go all gung-ho the first 30 minutes so they turn us over and score, but build it in.’
“Or they might be very emotional and come flying at us, and we’ve got a bit of a game-plan for no matter what it is that they do decide to do, and I think we can [get through the match].”