Namibia bundled out of Cosafa

NAMIBIA’S inability to send a strong team to this year’s under-20 Cosafa Cup in South Africa cost them dearly, as they were bundled out of the tournament, losing their two opening matches.

Instead of sending an under-20 side to South Africa for the annual regional showpiece, the Namibian authorities decided to send players from the under-17 ranks to give them exposure at that level. Yesterday, Namibia’s team manager Lesley Kozonguizi told The Namibian Sport from Mafikeng, South Africa, that the main reason for that was that players could not be released by their clubs.He said the weekend’s semi-finals of the FNB Cup prevented the usual under-20 players from representing their country, as the clubs were their priority.Namibia went down to South Africa 3-1 on Friday, before losing 1-0 to Zimbabwe, results which led to their exit from the competition.The match against Swaziland yesterday was a formality for the team to complete their assignments.Namibia led 2-0 at halftime.The exit of the team further dented their poor record at the competition, at which they have never reached the semi-final stages.Namibia has constantly failed to impress at the event, which is largely dominated by hosts South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.The association spent thousands of Namibian dollars to send the team to South Africa only to be knocked out in the first stage.Kozonguizi said they could not force clubs to release players, as the FNB Cup dates were already set for last weekend.”We cannot beg the teams if they do not want to release the players,” he said.Kozonguizi could also not explain why national duty was regarded as less important than domestic cup competitions.The dates for the Cosafa tournament are released at the beginning of each year, but the administrators have failed to plan accordingly this time, resulting in players having split loyalties.Although five players had to come from Blue Waters to play for the country, each Namibia Premier League (NPL) team has at least 25 other registered players to choose from.Namibia Football Association (NFA) acting secretary general Barry Rukoro told Nampa that the association had “to select alternative players with the idea to develop and expose them for next year’s edition”.But at the same time, he said Namibia was dumped out of the competition because of the inexperience of the under-17 players.The team is expected to return home this week after spending more than three weeks in camp to prepare for the Cosafa Cup.Coach Bobby Samaria and his assistant, Waga Waga Goagoseb, led the team to South Africa.Yesterday, Namibia’s team manager Lesley Kozonguizi told The Namibian Sport from Mafikeng, South Africa, that the main reason for that was that players could not be released by their clubs.He said the weekend’s semi-finals of the FNB Cup prevented the usual under-20 players from representing their country, as the clubs were their priority.Namibia went down to South Africa 3-1 on Friday, before losing 1-0 to Zimbabwe, results which led to their exit from the competition.The match against Swaziland yesterday was a formality for the team to complete their assignments.Namibia led 2-0 at halftime.The exit of the team further dented their poor record at the competition, at which they have never reached the semi-final stages.Namibia has constantly failed to impress at the event, which is largely dominated by hosts South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.The association spent thousands of Namibian dollars to send the team to South Africa only to be knocked out in the first stage.Kozonguizi said they could not force clubs to release players, as the FNB Cup dates were already set for last weekend.”We cannot beg the teams if they do not want to release the players,” he said.Kozonguizi could also not explain why national duty was regarded as less important than domestic cup competitions.The dates for the Cosafa tournament are released at the beginning of each year, but the administrators have failed to plan accordingly this time, resulting in players having split loyalties.Although five players had to come from Blue Waters to play for the country, each Namibia Premier League (NPL) team has at least 25 other registered players to choose from.Namibia Football Association (NFA) acting secretary general Barry Rukoro told Nampa that the association had “to select alternative players with the idea to develop and expose them for next year’s edition”.But at the same time, he said Namibia was dumped out of the competition because of the inexperience of the under-17 players.The team is expected to return home this week after spending more than three weeks in camp to prepare for the Cosafa Cup.Coach Bobby Samaria and his assistant, Waga Waga Goagoseb, led the team to South Africa.