Brave Warriors ready for Liberia 

The Brave Warriors are in a “good space” and looking forward to their Fifa World Cup encounter against Liberia in Paynesville today.

Coach Colin Benjamin yesterday said the players are in good spirits despite a long flight of about 16 hours on Tuesday.

“We left Windhoek on Monday at about lunchtime en route to Addis Ababa, where we overnighted. At about 04h00 on Tuesday we started our journey from Addis over Lome, Togo, and Accra, Ghana, before arriving in Monrovia at about 20h00 last night.

“Going through immigration took us about another two to three hours, so we only arrived at the hotel at about 23h00, and then there was basically just time to eat and sleep and rest,” he said.

“But our players are in good spirits. We won our last match, and we definitely want to cement our place in second spot in this group and obviously keep our chances alive of making the play-offs,” he said.

Benjamin said he expected a strong physical challenge from Liberia.

“As a west African team, Liberia is very physical. They see their chances mostly at set pieces and they like to play on the counter-attack. So they’ve got strong, physical guys, and they are very good at the set pieces,” he said.

“They drew their last match against Malawi 2-2, and their goals also came from set pieces, so we have to be wary about that. I also remember last year when we played them in Johannesburg, we were leading that match, but then they equalised from a long throw-in, so we have to be wary about that, while playing at home is always a plus for them,” he said.

Benjamin, however, said his players are optimistic and looking forward to the match.

“As much as they are a good team, I think we’re also in a very good space. We are second on the log and we’re going to have our first session this afternoon, but the guys know each other and we just have to get clarity on our set pieces as well as our shape, organisation, and outlets,” he said.

Benjamin said the squad was largely settled and experienced.

“Most of the guys have been around for a while, and they know what is expected of them. We’ve got a few new players in the squad, like Kennedy (Amutenya), who will probably also start on Thursday, but he’s been with the team before and he was also at Afcon, so he knows the drill,” he said.

“Awilo (Stephanus) is also making a return after making his debut in Saudi Arabia, and Tjipe Karuuombe, who plays in Georgia, is also back in the squad.

“He’s a young player who has proven he is capable of doing the job at an international level.

“And then, obviously, our experienced players like Riaan !Hanamuib, Deon Hotto, Peter Shalulile and Charles Hambira have to carry us, so we’re in a good space and we see our chances.

“But we know that it’s not going to be easy. It needs a collective effort from the team, both with and without the ball,” he said.

Africa qualification for the 2026 Fifa World Cup 

A record nine African nations, and possibly 10, will qualify for the 2026 Fifa World Cup which will be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada from 11 June to 19 July next year. 

The winners of the nine Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualifying groups will qualify automatically for the world cup. Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia have already won their qualifying groups to book their tickets to the world cup, while the other six groups will be decided over the next few days. 

The four best second-placed teams, however, will progress to another play-off tournament where the winner will qualify as the African representative for a final inter-confederation play-off tournament. The final play-off tournament will be held in March in north America next year, where the top two teams will book their tickets to the 2026 Fifa World Cup. 

Namibia is currently second in Group H with a total of 15 points, while they are ranked sixth amongst the nine group runners-up.

Gabon is currently the best second-placed team on 19 points, followed by DR Congo and Madagascar on 16, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Namibia and Uganda on 15, South Africa on 14 and Tanzania on 10 points. 

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