Africa-Press – Namibia. WOODY Jacobs believes he can take the Brave Gladiators from perennial participants to confident contenders that strike fear into their rivals.
Jacobs returns to the national team fold to rekindle his love-hate relationship with the Namibia Football Association (NFA), a year after walking away from his assistant Brave Warriors post under a cloud.
Having buried the hatchet with his employers, Jacobs foresees a more pleasant tenure in the women’s senior national side’s dugout. “When I got the call, I jumped at the opportunity,” Jacobs, who has been critical of the NFA’s recruitment process, said during his unveiling yesterday.
“I applied and those that make the decisions felt that Woody Jacobs is the right man for the job.” The outspoken gaffer says despite his much-storied ‘professional differences’ with the NFA, they share a common vision of elevating the women’s game.
Therefore, he would like the focus to be on the plan for improving the Brave Gladiators performances and world rankings. He intends to put the building blocks for that ambition in motion at the 2021 Cosafa Women’s Championship set for 28 September to 9 October in South Africa.
“There’s so much potential. I believe with the right combination of desire, effort and methods, the team can become formidable,” Jacobs said.
“When I leave here one day, I want to leave with the team ranked under 100. That is doable,” he said of his objective.
“I see a young upcoming team, which can do wonders in women’s football. I want to share what I’ve learned in football with them and try to achieve those things that in the last 10 years have been elusive to them,” Jacobs said.
Namibia open their Cosafa Women’s Championship with a Group C clash against guest nation Uganda on 30 September. Zambia and Eswatini are the other teams in the group. Only the top team per pool and best-placed runner-up progress to the semi-finals.
The last meeting between the two sides ended in a goalless stalemate at the tournament in 2019. Namibia failed to emerge from the group then after registering a win, draw and a defeat.
“Although they’ve had some success here and there, especially with development of the game, growing the team into a formidable outfit and to be one of the feared teams in southern Africa is something that I want to work towards,” Jacobs said.
“You can only do it through competitions and playing regularly. Cosafa is one of them, we want to see if we can bring the title home this time around,” the much-travelled coach added.
Jacobs said his side should draw inspiration from the Brave Warriors’ impressive start to the World Cup qualifiers. Additionally, they should be fearless and ambitious like 18-year-olds, Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, who have taken the global athletics scene by storm.
The competition will be perfect preparation for the start of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers that are scheduled to be played in the Fifa international window that runs from 18 to 26 October. The Gladiators face Tanzania in the qualifiers, and will play their home match in South Africa due to substandard stadiums in Namibia.
