Baxter: The onus is on us to produce

Cape Town - Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter believes the general public perception of underestimating Namibia is very dangerous in the modern world of football where no team should be considered minnows.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of Friday's must-win encounter against the Brave Warriors at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo, Baxter said Namibia had given Morocco a proper scare in their 2019  Africa Cup of Nations opener.

Namibia were close to holding mighty Morocco to a goalless draw before an own in the 89th minute denied them what would have been a credible result.

On the other end, South Africa went down 1-0 to a 64th-minute goal by Ivory Coast's Jonathan Kadjia.

"Ivory Coast is the first game we have lost in one-and-half years and talking of dismantling Namibia is totally disrespectful towards a team that qualified for AFCON and ran Morocco very, very close," said Baxter as quoted by the official SAFA website.

"Yes, our strikers didn’t fire on the day and we didn’t create a lot of goal chances. Even then, Tyson (Thulani Hlatshwayo) had a good chance, Percy (Tau) went through and could have had a penalty.

"We had chances but they were not enough for us."

Baxter was also not amused by what media has been reporting which can be seen as negative sentiments by fans back home.

"I do understand the mood back home but that is nothing new and let’s be honest, that was a top team (Ivory Coast) we were playing," he said.

"There were some positives but we were not really happy with our overall performance and yes, this (Namibia game) is a massive game for us.

"The onus is on us to produce good football. If we play the way we are capable of, we can win the game but I will not come here and disrespect our opponents."

A victory for either side will boost their chances of qualifying for the quarter-final stage.

Kick-off is at 22:00 (SA time) on Friday.

Meanwhile, the other Group D match between Ivory Coast and Morocco takes place at 19:00 (SA time).