WINDHOEK – Brave Warriors head coach Ricardo Mannetti says his teams’ preparation for Saturday’s 2016 Cosafa Cup quarter-final against Botswana on Saturday are going well.
Champions Namibia and Botswana, due to their high Fifa ranking, both enter the competition in the quarter-final stage.
The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup commenced on Saturday and ends on 25 June.
Mannetti told Nampa on Monday that the plan is coming together and is looking forward to naming his 20-man squad on Wednesday. There are no injury concerns within the team.
His remarks come after the Brave Warriors’ preparatory match that was scheduled against Zambia last Saturday was cancelled, raising concerns that the team will be short of match practice.
The match was called off because the Namibian players were required to be at the tournament’s opening ceremony on the same day.
The coach revealed that Namibia faces a tough task in trying to defend the title won in South Africa last year after beating Mozambique by two goals to nil.
He noted that most teams in southern Africa have improved, hence the need to be fully prepared for a tournament of this magnitude.
“All teams now see us as a big player in the region; they no longer see us the whipping boys, so that means we must be on top of our game all the time. Our aim is to give a good showing, and defend our trophy.”
Quizzed about Virgil Vries and Chris Katjiukua who recently went absent without leave, Mannetti revealed that the two had apologised to the Namibia Football Association and their teammates for their antics.
“There are no hard feelings from us (technical team) and the rest of the team, we have accepted their apology and we have moved on.
“I am not sure though if they will be in the final 20. We still have to sit as the technical team and evaluate the situation,” Mannetti said.
The match kicks off at 17h30. – Nampa
