Thread: Brave Warriors

Well, the Brave Warriros lost their opening AFCON 2012 qualifying match 3-1 against Gambia on the 4th of September, a defeat their coach Tom Saintfiet pinned on his employers. According to a report on Namibia Sport magazine’s website, Saintfiet said he was not surprised that the team lost. He said he had sounded the alarm about the teams unreadiness weeks ahead of that particular encounter. And apparently he also feels his cries for help fell on deaf ears, and that the Namibia Football Association, (NFA) should learn from this experience.

Following the loss against the Gambia, Brave Warriors not only lost their friendly against India on Wednesday, but also dropped down the Fifa rankings. They lost 2-0 to India, and are now ranked one place lower than the 115th placing they enjoyed before the trip to South Asia. Despite not having his foreign based players for the match, Saintfiet must concede that to lose to a country who is currently ranked at a 160, is unacceptable.

So,Magcutey at the moment pme can only reach one conclusion: Things are getting worse: Two losses and a lot of finger pointing. It seems dire, to say the least.

Can the forgein base players realy can make a difference?
Where do we go from here?
Where do you think improvement is needed?

Lack of preparation and team building is the biggest problem. Saintfiet is right because if players don't train as a team together with a system even foreign based players will not make a difference. So they come and train once maybe another time? This will not build a strong team. More training and preparation and also foreign-based players sharing skills and experience and nobody being envy and jealous and all that will help. And as a nation we must also support the Brace Warriors whether they lose or not.

Too Bad he is living us..I wonder how much this players are paid?

For sure a lot, maybe hundreds and thousands. But aintfiet gone maybe is not so bad because he was not major league? Let NFA find a really competent coach and with success in major league.

Would you suggest a local or a foreign coach?

Well, well - let the best Namibian coach give it a shot. At least he will have a better understanding of the mind-set and team dynamics. We need to start believing in ourselves, our players, our coaches....let us start humble, gain experience and knowledge, work hard, be realistic and take small steps at a time and if we persevere the tree will bear fruit.