Four Warriors out for Gambia qualifier

BRAVE Warriors defender George Hummel and midfielders Paulus Shipanga and Razundara Tjikuzu, Rudolf Bester have withdrawn from the Brave Warriors team that will play Gambia in their first AFCON 2012 qualifying match in Banjul, Gambia on Saturday.

South African based attacking midfielder Bester was ruled out of the squad after sustaining a hamstring injury during a league match defeat of his club Maritzburg United by Amazulu on Sunday.
Experienced midfielder Tjikuzu, who recently signed for Turkish club Kasimpasa Spor Kulubu, requested to be omitted from the squad for the Gambia match.
“We got a message from him that he prefers not to come with us to Gambia because he doesn’t feel fit enough and also because of the fact that he just signed a new contract,” Brave Warriors coach Tom Saintfiet said.
“This will be a big disappointment for us as he plays an integral part in the Brave Warriors, but on the other hand I respect his decision. He made it clear that he would be available for the next qualifying matches,” Saintfiet added.
Shipanga and Hummel both announced that they would be retiring from international football ahead of the Gambia trip.
“I understand their decision to quit, but I am disappointed because they both played an important role in the national team,” Saintfiet said about the aging players.
“I am satisfied with the final 18 players that we have for the Gambia game. We are going to experiment a bit on the right wing because during the last two years we always had Razundara or Paulus Shipanga in that position.”
“We now have Tangeni Shipahu and Alfred Ndyenge in that position and I hope that they will be the right alternative,” he added.
Despite these withdrawals, Saintfiet is confident of his team’s chances against Gambia when they play their first qualifier in Banjul on September 4.
“If everything goes according to plan then we should come back with a good result,” Saintfiet said.
“My only fear is the lack of match fitness of some of my players who last played competitive football at least four months ago,” he said.
“Last Thursday we played a friendly match against SKW and won 2-0, and it was clear that some of my players struggled to play the full 90 minutes. This can be a problem when we meet our West African opponents.”
“We will not change our tactics. We have worked two years to get the right tactics in the team and it has proven to be successful. It does not matter who we will play, the basic tactics will remain.”
“We know that Gambia is a very strong opponent, but we have showed in the past that we are very strong especially against teams that are ranked higher than us.”
The team will leave Windhoek on Tuesday afternoon and will fly via Accra, arriving in the Gambian capital Banjul early on Thursday morning. They will meet up with the foreign-based players in Gambia.
“We are going to have only two training sessions, on Thursday and Friday, in Gambia before our match on Saturday,” Saintfiet said.
“I expect difficult circumstances in Gambia because our players will not be used to the temperature and humidity in Banjul, but we will just have to adapt,” the Belgian coach said.
The players that will travel to Gambia are as follows:
Goalkeepers: Virgil Vries and Athiel Mbaha.
Defenders:  Hartman Toromba, Richard Gariseb, Steven Goagab, Oliver Risser, Jamunuvandu Ngatjizeko and Gottlieb Nakuta.
Midfielders: Ninja Karongee, Collin Benjamin, Quinton Jacobs, Tangeni Shipahu, Sydney Plaatjies, Edward Asino and Alfred Ndyenge.
Strikers: Henrico Botes, Wilko Risser and Rudolf Bester.
– namibiasport.com.na

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