No Egypt for Warriors?

THE Brave Warriors are unlikely to play against 2008 African Nations Cup champions Egypt on May 26 in Cairo.
The Warriors technical staff will decide today if they will still play against Egypt or not.

The Namibia Football Association (NFA) requested their North African counterparts to arrange a friendly match on May 26, but up to now, no confirmation has been received from the Pharaohs.Warriors team manager Tim Isaacs said they will make an announcement today whether the match will go ahead or will be called off.’The technical staff will have a meeting tonight (yesterday) and by tomorrow (today) we will know if we are going to play Egypt or not,’ he said.He said one of the main reasons why they have to make an announcement today is that they need to inform the foreign-based players well in advance, as some of them have prior league commitments with their clubs.’They have to know what the national team schedule looks like so that they can arrange with their respective clubs to represent the country,’ he said.Isaacs said Brave Warriors coach Tom Saintfiet is expected to name a 25-man squad for their international friendly against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), scheduled for June 6 in Windhoek.He said most foreign-based players, especially the ones in the South African leagues, will be ready for the encounter and Saintfiet is expected to have a mixture of both local and international players.He said the reason why there will be a big squad for this match, is that Saintfiet and his assistant Brian Isaacs want to assess the condition of the players.’We don’t know if some of these players who will be called up are injured or not, so it will be better to call up a big group so that we can have a wide range to choose from,’ he said.He said the local-based players are expected to gather during the last week of May, while some foreign internationals are expected during the first week of June.The match might possibly be played at the Sam Nujoma Stadium’s Astroturf in Katutura, but it has not yet been confirmed whether the facility will be available.Also, Isaacs said they wanted to play Sudan in a midweek match on June 10 in Windhoek, but have not finalised all arrangements yet.’We are still looking at playing against Sudan, but we are still exploring that possibility,’ he said. The two coaches will have a hard time to choose players from the domestic league, as most have been performing beyond expectations for their teams.Some have upped their game considerably to impress Saintfiet and Isaacs, who have been generous enough to give many players a chance to prove themselves on national level.The foreign-based internationals will have to work harder to secure places in the side, as competition for places has heated up since the last match against The Namibian Shadow Team, Botswana, Liberia and Angola. corry@namibian.com.na