Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has downplayed his side’s win over Namibia and has instead chosen to focus on the development of his young team.

Bafana were eliminated from the Cosafa Cup following a shock penalty shootout loss to Madagascar on Sunday and were subsequently dropped into the plate section of the tournament. The result saw the national side receive criticism for yet another failure.

Bafana, however, picked themselves up to beat Namibia 4-1 comfortably in the plate semi-final on Tuesday evening.

Despite the good performance, Baxter was quick to calm expectations by focusing on the development of his young players, who would have benefited from the encounter.

‘I just want to reiterate that the strategy before the game was that. And I spoke to some of the people at the FA [Safa] and told them when we decide to take a younger team to the Four Nations in Zambia, give nine debuts and win the tournament. Let’s not take all the pats on the back because we won the tournament but because we made that decision,’ said Baxter.

‘Now, I would say the same thing. This was a good game for us [against Namibia] because young players got international experience against a good team, and they came out and did a good job – I think that’s the biggest positive.’

Baxter’s young charges will next be in action when they face Botswana in the plate final on Friday evening at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium, with kick-off set for 5pm.