Brave Gladiators coach Woody Jacobs is already plotting Zambia's downfall following Namibia's 1-0 win against Eswatini on Wednesday.
The victory gave Namibia a 4-0 aggregate win over Eswatini and put them through to the final qualifier for Wafcon 2026 against Zambia, scheduled for October.
Zambia eliminated Namibia from the 2022 Wafcon finals, and after Wednesday's match Jacobs said they are already preparing for Zambia.
"We will once again be facing our nemesis Zambia. Although it's still far off, we are already preparing to get these girls in the right frame of mind to qualify for Wafcon. That's never been done in our country's history, so it's something that this generation of footballers is looking forward to and they want to achieve that," he said.
In Wednesday's match at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, Namibia took the lead midway through the first half when Juliana Blou's shot from the edge of the box was deflected in Eswatini's goals.
Namibia had more chances with Fiola Vliete dangerous down the left, but they failed to capitalise, and were nearly made to pay when Eswatini caught them on the counter-attack. Lindiwe Dlamini was put through on goal but Namibian keeper Melissa Matheus pulled off a great save to deny her.
Jacobs paid credit to Eswatini on a fine performance.
"They put us under a lot of pressure and credit to them for the way they fought, never giving up. It's an attitude that I want to see in my girls as well. The fact that we got one goal for me is enough, for me, a win is a win and I'll take it against a team that has improved over the past few years," he said.
"I give credit to my girls for the fact that they could win the game in difficult circumstances. It's always difficult to motivate a team that has beaten another team 3-0 on the other side," he added.
Namibia will now take on Zambia in the final Wafcon qualifying round from 20 to 28 October. At the previous Wafcon final in Morocco in 2022 Zambia finished third to qualify for the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup and Jacobs said they are a top-class side.
"At the end of the day, we have to beat the best in order to qualify for Wafcon and that is also a springboard to qualify for the World Cup, which Zambia did at our expense in 2022. We need to beat them, and yes, I agree they have star players, but I always say this is a team sport. Yes, you have the stars, but sometimes with the stars, you don't get the desired results. So I rather want to work on team cohesion and a team chemistry where each one works for each other. We need to be a collective and that's what we're aiming for," he said.
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"My recommendation to my executive will be that we keep this team together and we increase the pool of players. We go on scouting and see if we can get better players to come into the team so that we will be in a better place when we face Zambia in October," he added.
Star forward Zenatha Coleman did not play in the two ties against Eswatini but Jacobs said she was still very much part of the team.
"Zenatha Coleman missed the Eswatini matches due to compassionate leave, but she is still very much part of the team and we will welcome her back with open arms," he said.
"We also have other players, some were injured, so we have a lot of players, but it's a matter of mentality - to have the desire and will to say that we want to qualify for that elusive Wafcon," he added.
Jacobs said they must aim to leave a legacy.
"I want to say to the girls they must leave a legacy, so that when they hang up their boots they can tell their children or grandchildren that they played at Wafcon - if Zambia can do it and qualify for the World Cup, why can't we," he said.
Jacobs called on all stakeholders to rally around the Gladiators.
"We need to harness it, we need to improve it and we need to get everybody behind us. We need to get government behind us, we need to get corporate Namibia behind us and then the Namibia Football Association, which is really doing a good job in helping us, but they can only do so much," he said.
"I will make some recommendations on how we can prepare for this game. Hopefully we'll get two or three friendlies against quality opposition like Banyana, so that we can prepare for a quality outfit like Zambia," he added.
