Stuart Baxter has said that Libya's change of coach is an area of concern in the homework he has done on Bafana Bafana's opponents for Saturday's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Bafana coach Baxter admitted that from the games he has seen Libya should be a tough side to break down.
South Africa have quite often struggled to penetrate North African teams.
Libya might not have the same quality as most of their Arab neighbours‚ but they appear to make up for it with a determination and doggedness defensively.
Libya have played 19 matches since the start of 2019 and won only five‚ but they have also only lost five‚ with nine draws.
Baxter said he has done his research on the Mediterranean Knights‚ and his main concern is that they have a new coach - Adel Amrouche‚ the 50-year-old former Kenya boss who replaced Omar Al-Maryami in May - so he cannot be sure how Libya will play.
"I know a lot about them. I've studied three of their games. The only thing that probably is a question mark is that they have a new coach‚" Baxter said.
"We can't be certain that he's going to be like the old coach. We can't be certain that his selection will be the same.
"But I think I've got a good idea how they are going to approach the game.
"We will have a backup plan. And I think that the Libyans‚ because of their situation [in their war-torn country] are together probably more than most national teams.
"So I'll guess that they're going to be better organised than most national teams. Do they have the extreme talent of Sadio Mane and people like that? I don't think so‚ but they are good players.
"And the games that I've seen they've given every team a tough time‚ including Morocco. So it will be a tough game.
"I think we've got a good idea how they will approach the game. I think we've got a good idea what we will need to do.
"We will have a backup plan if the new coach doesn't play the according to the way they played before. But we've done our homework."
Baxter admits his homework on Libya has been affected
Stuart Baxter has said that Libya's change of coach is an area of concern in the homework he has done on Bafana Bafana's opponents for Saturday's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Bafana coach Baxter admitted that from the games he has seen Libya should be a tough side to break down.
South Africa have quite often struggled to penetrate North African teams.
Libya might not have the same quality as most of their Arab neighbours‚ but they appear to make up for it with a determination and doggedness defensively.
Libya have played 19 matches since the start of 2019 and won only five‚ but they have also only lost five‚ with nine draws.
Baxter said he has done his research on the Mediterranean Knights‚ and his main concern is that they have a new coach - Adel Amrouche‚ the 50-year-old former Kenya boss who replaced Omar Al-Maryami in May - so he cannot be sure how Libya will play.
"I know a lot about them. I've studied three of their games. The only thing that probably is a question mark is that they have a new coach‚" Baxter said.
"We can't be certain that he's going to be like the old coach. We can't be certain that his selection will be the same.
"But I think I've got a good idea how they are going to approach the game.
"We will have a backup plan. And I think that the Libyans‚ because of their situation [in their war-torn country] are together probably more than most national teams.
"So I'll guess that they're going to be better organised than most national teams. Do they have the extreme talent of Sadio Mane and people like that? I don't think so‚ but they are good players.
"And the games that I've seen they've given every team a tough time‚ including Morocco. So it will be a tough game.
"I think we've got a good idea how they will approach the game. I think we've got a good idea what we will need to do.
"We will have a backup plan if the new coach doesn't play the according to the way they played before. But we've done our homework."