Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA’s under-17 women’s football squad is hard at work preparing for the Region 5 Youth Games which will be held in Maseru, Lesotho, from 4 to 13 December.
The squad, which was selected after regional and national trials were held, has been preparing at the NFA’s technical centre for the past two weeks, and coach Fredrich Sitali says he is excited about the task ahead.
“The squad consists of players from across the country. We had trials where the regions were invited to send their best players to, and then out of those players we selected the final squad. We’ve been training for about two weeks now, and I’m very happy with the progress we are making. The girls are very talented, and I’m sure they will be able to get good results,” he says.
“It will not be easy, but the ball is round, and the team that will be able to place the ball between the sticks will win the game. So we are not going there to just add the numbers, we are going there to compete,” he says.
Senior Brave Gladiators players Thomalina Adams and Emma Naris have been assisting Sitali at training sessions this week, while former Brave Warriors goalkeeper Arnold Subeb is the goalkeeper coach.
“Arnold brings a lot of experience to the team, and he is definitely the right man for the job,” Sitali says.
Namibia will be making their debut in the competition where they will come up against Zambia and Zimbabwe, who both have proud records in Cosafa Cup tournaments.
Namibia were originally supposed to play South Africa and Mauritius in Group B of the competition, but the fixtures had to be rescheduled after the late withdrawal of both teams.
According to the Cosafa website, cosafa.com, South Africa pulled out citing the late return of amateur football in the country in October due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult for coaches to scout players and put together teams for the trip to Maseru.
Mauritius will also not travel due to a tightening of Covid-19 regulations in the country, which includes a halt to football activities. The u17 women’s competition will now consist of five teams, namely Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Comoros, and Namibia, with all the sides competing in a single pool.
Each team will only play two pool games due to the congestion of matches, with Namibia opening their campaign against Zambia on 4 December, while they take Zimbabwe the following day.
The top four teams will then qualify for the semi-finals on 6 December, while the final will be held two days later. Sitali says they are aiming to make a big impact on their debut in the tournament.
“Our aim is to come back with the trophy. We are going to compete, and if all goes according to plan, we will bring the trophy back to the Land of the Brave.”
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