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Namibia: Warriors Gun for Pride
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Corry Ihuhua
NEW Brave Warriors mentor Tom Saintfiet will be wary of starting on a bad note in his bid to restore the lost pride of Namibian football, which was flung out of the window by former coach Arie Schans.
Dutch national Schans only won one match from a total of 11 and was ultimately fired.
Namibia competes at the Cosafa Senior Cup Challenge, starting tomorrow in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Saintfiet will be expected to produce the goods to restore the lost pride of the side which this year made their second appearance at the African Nations Cup in Ghana.
Saintfiet, with his two assistant coaches in Ronnie Kanalelo and Brian Isaacs, should have an easy task of dispatching the newcomers to the Cosafa Cup, Comoros Islands, in their opening match late on Sunday afternoon.
The first match is a must-win judging from the players picked for the tournament after the final 20 were announced yesterday.
If Namibia fail at the first hurdle against the lowly-rated Comoros Islands, the new coach's campaign can turn into a disaster, whilst a win will spur the players on to win their next encounters.
Namibia will play minnows Lesotho on Tuesday, a match in which they are expected to dominate from the beginning, but the biggest task for the Warriors will be a buoyant Malawi side that awaits them in their last group match next Thursday.
Malawi beat Namibia 3-1 in their last encounter in Windhoek, after Schans fielded a shaky side which struggled in all departments despite the home-ground advantage.
It should be payback time for the Namibians when they now meet on neutral ground.
Saintfiet, with his two assistants named 20 players for the tournament yesterday.
Omitted is goalkeeper Esau Tjiuoro who made way for Abisai Shiningayamwe, who was hardly inactive at Jomo Cosmos in last season compared to Tjiuoro who served Civics throughout the season.
Stars defender Dennis Ngueza was also dropped despite being active for most of the season compared to Ivan Namaseb who had a below par performance since he joined the national side.
The side was named as follows: Goalkeepers: Athiel Mbaha, Abisai Shiningayamwe.
Defenders: Michael Pienaar, George Hummel, Steven Goagab, Ivan Namaseb, Jeremia Baisako, Mali Ngarizemo and Gottlieb Nakuta.
Midfielders: Jamu Ngatjizeko, Rudi Louw, Brian Brendell, Freedom Puriza, Paulus Shipanga, Quinton Jacobs and Victor Helu.
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Strikers: Edward Damaseb, Costa Khaiseb, Jerome Louis and Lazarus Kaimbi.
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