Sport Matters ... The honeymoon is over

Eish, the Brave Warriors - that 3-0 defeat in Maputo was quite a shock and also signalled the end of the honeymoon period for coach Ricardo Mannetti. After his dream start that saw Namibia playing to a thrilling draw against the African champions Nigeria, the Warriors’ performances have steadily declined.

It was not going to be easy to maintain that passion displayed against Nigeria, and although there were positive signs of a creative side emerging in the Cosafa Cup tournament, apprehension and skepticism also started to creep in.

Namibia’s defence was already exposed in the initial victories against Mauritius and Seychelles, while the finishing remained a problem throughout the tournament.

Namibia’s midfield creativity led to a host of chances, which should have related on the scoreboard, but the relative easy victories against Mauritius and Seychelles concealed the poor finishing. It must not be forgotten that Mauritius was ranked 182 and Seychelles 200 in the world, and Namibia, at 127 in the world, was expected to beat them easily.

But when the Brave Warriors came up against a quality side like South Africa, their shortcomings were clearly exposed.

Namibia’s strikers had little support, while the few chances that came their way hardly troubled South Africa’s goalkeeper Wayne Sandilands.

Bafana Bafana however, made full use of their chances, as Jabulani Shongwe and Hlompo Kekana pounced on defensive errors to score with clinical strikes. South Africa were just too classy on the day and their performance showed that Namibia still has some way to go before it can compete at a higher level.

The subsequent defeats to Mozambique in the Cosafa Cup and the Chan tournament also underlined the fact that Namibia needs to strengthen its quality and depth, as well as the standard of its local Premier League. In the Chan competition, which is just for local-based players, Mannetti had to do without several South Africa-based players, and their replacements were not at the same level.

Mozambique, by contrast, has a strong Premier League where their top players reportedly receive about N$40 000 per month, and with nearly their whole national team consisting of locally based players, they could field a settled and well prepared team against Namibia.

After the Maputo defeat, reality and sober assessment has crept in, which points to the fact that we are not in the top league as our FIFA ranking indicates. The Brave Warriors need to improve their FIFA ranking and this can only be done with regular and stronger competition. Fortunately, the Chan competition does not count towards FIFA rankings because, with only locally based players, it is not accorded full international status, and as such the results are not too important.

The competition should be used as an opportunity to experiment and develop new ideas and players, to strengthen the base and pool that can be called upon when Namibia once again competes in FIFA tournaments like the World Cup and Afcon qualifiers.

And here, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as Namibia’s foreign legion is steadily growing, with the aim that they will improve in quality and experience.

Willy Stephanus, Denzil Haoseb and Pineas Jacob all recently joined PSL clubs, to take Namibia’s PSL contingent to eleven, and with Lazarus Kaimbi and Tangeni Shipahu playing in Thailand and Manfred Starke in Germany, a formidable full strength side can still be assembled.

This is the strongest field of quality players we have ever had and comes more than a decade after players like Mohammed Ouseb, Robert Nauseb, George Hummel and Ricardo Mannetti himself, lit up the PSL with their performances.

The honeymoon is over, and like in any relationship, the hard work starts now, but the seeds for success, so clearly displayed against Nigeria, are there to take it to the next level.