Baxter took charge after the 2004 African Nations Cup

South Africa won the bidding contest for the tournament in Zurich on Saturday to become the first African country to host the World Cup finals.

The coach said he would now be looking to bring through some of the country's younger players quicker.

"Winning the bid underpins the work I have to do to get the team to the 2006 World Cup finals and now there is the extra dimension of looking to blood young players a little more quickly than before with the 2010 World Cup finals in mind," stated Baxter, who was in Zurich for the announcement of the finals bid confirmation.

"It would be a massive disappointment if we weren't able to put together a team to get through to the quarter-finals of the 2010 with all the ingredients at South Africa's disposal."

British-born Baxter took over as South Africa coach last month after Ephraim Mashaba was fired following the team's first round exit at the African Nations Cup finals.

The former England under-19 coach has a contract up until the next World Cup in Germany in 2006.

Qualifying campaign

South Africa, once comfortably ranked inside the top 20 teams in world football, have slipped down to 40 in the Fifa rankings issued last week.

And several players abandoned the national side during Mashaba's tenure, leaving a makeshift team.

Baxter has however been trying to coax players like Benni McCarthy, of Champions League finalists FC Porto, and Manchester United's Quinton Fortune to return to the team after they announced their retirement from international football.

South Africa qualified for the last two World Cups but have never got past the first round - on both occasions they changed their coach within six months of the event.