Brave Warriors aim to win

THE Brave Warriors are hungry for success and determined to beat Ethiopia in an African Cup of Nations qualifier in Windhoek on Saturday.

National coach Ben Bamfuchile told Namibia Sport yesterday that the players were devastated after last month’s 3-2 loss to the DR Congo and are now determined to make amends against Ethiopia. “They came to me and said, coach, this is the last game of the year and we want to make it a must-win.So the players are yearning to win, which also makes my life easier.”They already started saying that after the DR Congo game, because I think it was painful for them to lose there.If they feel the pain, I like it, because it shows that they don’t like to lose,” he said.Bamfuchile said that five foreign-based players had already joined the squad by Monday, while four more were expected to arrive yesterday afternoon.Richard Gariseb arrived on Sunday, while George Hummel and Henrico Botes of Moroka Swallows and Athiel Mbaha, Hartman Toromba and Costa Khaiseb arrived on Monday.”At least this time we had about five professionals who already arrived on Monday.Richard Gariseb was the first one to come in and arrived on Sunday.That’s the commitment we really need from these guys, because we want to have at least five days’ training with the professionals,” he said.The other foreign-based players who arrived yesterday are goalie Zico Paulus from Jomo Cosmos, Quinton Jacobs from Bryne FC in Norway, Heini Isaacs from Danish club Soenderjyske, Robert Nauseb from South African club Santos and Collin Benjamin of Hamburg SV from Germany.”So far we’ve been training mostly with the local players and the training has gone well, except for Letu Shatimwene, who took a slight knock.We have given him three days’ rest as a precautionary measure, but that’s the only major worry we have,” Bamfuchile said.The national Under-23 coach, Bobby Samaria, has meanwhile returned from a coaching clinic in Germany and took over the reins of the Under-23 squad from Bamfuchile yesterday.Bamfuchile said they might have a practice match between the two sides on Thursday.”But we also don’t want to bring in too much competition between the two sides – we’ll try and have a practice match to see who is ready and who is not ready,” he said.Meanwhile, Bamfuchile has confirmed that they are trying to organise a friendly match for Namibia against either Zambia or Zimbabwe on November 14, which is a universal date set aside by Fifa for international friendly matches.”This match still has to be arranged and we will have to see if it will be at home or away, but we are keen to make use of this opportunity.I’ve already contacted the Zambian Football Association to see if they can accommodate us,” he said.Bamfuchile said he hoped to call up Danzyl Bruwer for the friendly match.”I’ve not had an opportunity to see him, but I thought of calling him up for the friendly match, along with two other local goalies to take a look at them,” he said.namibiasport.com.na”They came to me and said, coach, this is the last game of the year and we want to make it a must-win.So the players are yearning to win, which also makes my life easier.”They already started saying that after the DR Congo game, because I think it was painful for them to lose there.If they feel the pain, I like it, because it shows that they don’t like to lose,” he said.Bamfuchile said that five foreign-based players had already joined the squad by Monday, while four more were expected to arrive yesterday afternoon.Richard Gariseb arrived on Sunday, while George Hummel and Henrico Botes of Moroka Swallows and Athiel Mbaha, Hartman Toromba and Costa Khaiseb arrived on Monday.”At least this time we had about five professionals who already arrived on Monday.Richard Gariseb was the first one to come in and arrived on Sunday.That’s the commitment we really need from these guys, because we want to have at least five days’ training with the professionals,” he said.The other foreign-based players who arrived yesterday are goalie Zico Paulus from Jomo Cosmos, Quinton Jacobs from Bryne FC in Norway, Heini Isaacs from Danish club Soenderjyske, Robert Nauseb from South African club Santos and Collin Benjamin of Hamburg SV from Germany.”So far we’ve been training mostly with the local players and the training has gone well, except for Letu Shatimwene, who took a slight knock.We have given him three days’ rest as a precautionary measure, but that’s the only major worry we have,” Bamfuchile said.The national Under-23 coach, Bobby Samaria, has meanwhile returned from a coaching clinic in Germany and took over the reins of the Under-23 squad from Bamfuchile yesterday.Bamfuchile said they might have a practice match between the two sides on Thursday.”But we also don’t want to bring in too much competition between the two sides – we’ll try and have a practice match to see who is ready and who is not ready,” he said.Meanwhile, Bamfuchile has confirmed that they are trying to organise a friendly match for Namibia against either Zambia or Zimbabwe on November 14, which is a universal date set aside by Fifa for international friendly matches.”This match still has to be arranged and we will have to see if it will be at home or away, but we are keen to make use of this opportunity.I’ve already contacted the Zambian Football Association to see if they can accommodate us,” he said.Bamfuchile said he hoped to call up Danzyl Bruwer for the friendly match.”I’ve not had an opportunity to see him, but I thought of calling him up for the friendly match, along with two other local goalies to take a look at them,” he said.namibiasport.com.na