THE national under-17 side will battle Burkina Faso tomorrow afternoon as their quest to reach the CAF U/17 Championship begins.

The Namibian team coach, Christie Khuruseb, said yesterday that he believed in his squad's ability and that they can do the job against their more fancied opponents in the first leg of the qualifier at the Independence Stadium.

"We are playing the reigning African champs at this level, but we are ready for them. We will give our best shot definitely and surprise them," said Khuruseb.

He added that getting a cohesive unit in training proved challenging due to some players' academic commitments but expected the boys to fare well tomorrow.

"Our out-of-town players had difficulty coming to Windhoek because of exams, but they managed. Half of the team are Grade 10s and so it was not easy keeping them together. We respect their education and support them and cannot take them out because of that and otherwise we have a good team," he said.

Namibia face Burkina Faso in the second round of the qualifiers after receiving a bye in the first round following the withdrawal of Reunion from the qualifiers.

The second leg will be played after two weeks in Ouagadougou.

The winner of this fixture will face the winner of the Ethiopia/Tunisia clash with the eventual winner booking their place at the Championships in Morocco in April 2013.

In the team are: Kenny Glen Kamuchete, Jonas Matheus, Kevin Kahman, Marius Hashipala, Luciano Fischer, Pienhas Willem, Mike Wamunyima, Jerome Jagger, Jacob Nakambule, Guran van Wyk, Tony Isaack, Goerge Haikali, Moses Owoseb, Ernst Stuurman, Cartsen Horn, Petrus Shivute, Kenedy Eib, Merko Wollf, Ricardo Katjatenja, Waun-lee Mwanzi and Uaseukuo Katjikua.