SA coach Stuart Baxter: ‘Tower’ back to his normal self

by Graeme Jackson

Tuesday Nov 07, 2017. 13:30

South Africa coach Stuart Baxter says that defender Erick ‘Tower’ Mathoho is "back to his normal self" after a spell of poor form.

The Kaizer Chiefs defender endured a difficult September and October, highlighted by back-to-back red cards for club and country.

However, ‘Tower’, who worked with Baxter at Kaizer Chiefs, is back in contention to start Bafana Bafana’s crunch 2018 World Cup qualifier against Senegal on Friday night.

"'Tower' has been progressing. I think ‘Tower’ had a patch where he was a little bit unsure of himself. Maybe he was thinking too much about things that were happening around him, [but] I think he has been progressing nicely to get back to his normal self," Baxter said in regards to the defender, as quoted by Kick-Off.

Mathoho’s progress gives Baxter a difficult decision to make in regards to central defence, where Thulani Hlatshwayo is an injury doubt but the duo of Clayton Daniels and Morgan Gould performed strongly in a 3-1 win over Burkina Faso last month.

"I wish I had headaches like that all over the field. Morgan and Clayton did well against Burkina Faso. They know each other very well. So we are going to look at all the options and the combinations and we will pick the squad that we think will be most unpleasant to play against,” said the Bafana coach.

SA will host Senegal in Polokwane on Friday, before playing the return match in Dakar next week Tuesday.