NamibiaSport

Rudolph Bester

The Brave Warriors held their first full training sessions on Monday in preparation for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe, with most of their foreign based professionals being present.

Only Meraai Swartbooi of Primeiro de Agosto and Henrico Botes of Platinum Stars were absent after withdrawing from the squad last week. Both requested not to be called up since they had not regained full fitness.

In their absence, national coach Tom Saintfiet has called up winger Victor Helu of Civics and striker Jerome Louis who recently also joined Civics. Saintfiet said the absence of Swartbooi and Botes was a blow but he had full confidence in their replacements.

“Naturally, if you select players like Meraai and Henrico you hope they will be there but on the other hand we have some quality replacements in Victor Helu and Jerome Louis and I hope they can show they also have some qualities to be part of the group.

So I never talk too much about things we don’t have, I look forward to the things we have,” he said.

The rest of the squad consists mostly of foreign based players with only Civics midfielder Jamu Ngatjizeko, Blue Waters defender Gottlieb Nakuta, Orlando Pirates midfielder Rudi Louw and Eleven Arrows striker Muna Katupose coming from local clubs.

The foreign based players who were present on Monday included Collin Benjamin of Hamburg, Sydney Plaatjies of Mamelodi Sundowns, Athiel Mbaha of Maritzburg United, Paulus Shipanga of Bay United, Quinton Jacobs, Abisai Shiningayamwe, George Hummel and Lazarus Kaimbi of Jomo Cosmos, Rudolph Bester of Cuckaricki Stankom, Hartman Toromba of Free State Stars, Steve Goaxab of Carrera Kicks, Ivan Namaseb of FC AK, Richard Gariseb of Bidwest Wits and Wilko Risser of Eintracht FC.

Saintfiet expressed his satisfaction with Monday’s training sessions and said he expected that Namibia could give Zimbabwe a run for their money.

“I am very satisfied. This was the first training session of the week that we had the full group. The tactical areas that we concentrated on for the Cosafa Cup and Kenya matches are still there.

And we have been working on that. The conditions are fine, but it’s just very hot. I have some confidence that we are ready for Zimbabwe,” he said.

Although the match is only of academical interest as both teams are out of the running for a sport in the next round of World Cup qualifiers, both teams have selected their strongest squads.

Zimbabwe’s Warriors reported for camp on Sunday to prepare for the match. The squad includes notable names such as Benjani Mwaruwari from Manchester City, Esrom Nyandoro (Mamelodi Sundowns), Tinashe Nengomasha and Onismor Bhasera (Kaizer Chiefs) and Gilbert Mushangazhike from South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.

The Brave Warriors will continue training on a daily basis at the Independence Stadium until Thursday.

The match kicks off at 16h00 on Saturday at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium.