Corry Ihuhua
24 June 2008
THE Brave Warrior´s 4-0 drubbing by Guinea at the weekend has caused storm clouds around the head of coach Arie Schans, with some local football pundits calling for his head.
Schans, a Dutch national, has a poor record of only one win from 12 matches in charge of the Brave Warriors, since taking over ahead of last year's African Nations Cup.
His only win came against Kenya in a 2010 World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifier in Windhoek on June 7.
He has lost nine matches in total and only has two draws with a squad he has been rotating continuously.
Some football observers and journalists The Namibian Sport spoke to after the latest loss say it is time that Schans packs and leaves before he causes more embarrassment with the national team.
A well-placed source at Soccer House confirmed that the Namibia Football Association (NFA) executive is not happy with the poor results of the Dutchman, who is an accredited football coaching instructor.
The fate of Schans, who was also a former technical advisor to the Mozambican Football Federation, will according to the source be discussed at a planned executive meeting before Namibia's next match.
Schans has a three-year contract with the NFA which he signed in April this year, but his mandate with the national team was never made clear by football bosses.
Compounding the national squad's woes is the fact that Brian Isaacs and Ronnie Kanalelo do not have contracts with the NFA and are both paid only when they go into camp with the team and when the side is involved in international matches.
The 4-0 loss to Guinea on Sunday is the coach second heaviest defeat so far in the 2010 World Cup/African Nations Cup round of qualifier, with the heaviest defeat coming against Morocco in a 5-1 hammering during the African Nations Cup first round match in Accra, Ghana, on January 21 this year.
The most embarrassing loss came against the lowly placed Malawi when the Warriors were humiliated 3-1 on home turf in an international friendly.
The defeat was largely due to an out of sorts Namibian outfit failing to defensively contain inferior opponents at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on the evening of March 26.
The loss to Guinea at the weekend firmly roots Namibia to the bottom spot in Group 2, with only three points from four matches.
The team has been gripped by a prolonged scoring drought in the process, with the strikers netting only three times.
Namibia is also grouped with Zimbabwe in the same group for the qualifiers.
Namibia had the chance to beat Guinea on home soil on June 14 during the qualifiers, but blew the chance as they went down 2-1.
Prior to the Guinea match, Namibia suffered a 2-0 away defeat against Zimbabwe for the second time, after an earlier 1-0 loss to that country in an African Championships qualifying match at the Independence Stadium.
The only draws Schans can be proud of was against Guinea (1-1) at the Sekondi Stadium in Accra during the Nations Cup, while his second came against Zimbabwe (0-0) in Harare during the African Nations Cup qualifiers earlier this year.
Namibia, in order to qualify for the next stage of the tournament, now has to win both its matches against Kenya, starting on September 5, while they will also be expected to trounce Zimbabwe on the weekend of October 10-12 in Windhoek.
That task, according to some football officials, seems impossible as Kenya has never lost a match to Namibia, while Zimbabwe, which itself is currently in a precarious position on the log, will not allow themselves to go down against foes they have beaten twice before.
This situation has now put Schans and his two assistant coaches in a difficult position, with many football pundits calling for all three to be sacked.
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