BRAVE Warriors coach Tom Saintfiet is sitting with a dilemma. With less than two months to go till Namibia’s first match in their 2012 AFCON qualifying campaign, most of his first choice players are without a club while he is still searching for an opponent for an international friendly on August 11.
Saintfiet told Namibia Sport that at least eight foreign-based players are without contracts for the coming season, while only four players are currently in pre-season training with their clubs.Of all of Namibia’s foreign-based professionals, only four players are currently on contract for the new season. They are midfielder Collin Benjamin of Hamburg SV in the German Bundesliga, Wilko Risser, who joined German fourth division club SV Elversberg, Henrico Botes, who recently signed a new three-year contract with South African Premiership side Platinum Stars, and Rudolf Bester, who is still on contract with another SA Premiership side, Maritzburg United. Namibian midfielder-cum-defender Oliver Risser is club-less since his Norwegian club Lyn Oslo is reportedly facing bankruptcy, while Razundara Tjikuzu is looking for a new club after his Turkish club Trabzonspor failed to renew his contract. Quinton Jacobs has been club-less since leaving African Stars in January to play on loan for a Palestinian club. A number of European clubs are reportedly interested in his services, but they cannot meet the 80 000 Euro transfer fee that Stars have requested for his services.Most of Namibia’s South African-based players have failed to get new contracts. They include defender Hartman Toromba of Vasco de Gama, Richard Gariseb of Bidwest Wits, Sydney Plaatjies, who was offloaded by Mamelodi Sundowns more than a year ago, Paulus Shipanga of Bay United and Steven Goagab of Carara Kicks. According to media reports, Carara Kicks is being bought out by a new club, with the result that their other Namibian defender Michael Pienaar could soon also be without a club. To compound matters, the local Namibian Premiership is only scheduled to start in September, with the result that Namibia’s home based players have not been in action for close to two months. ‘I am very worried as the national coach of the Brave Warriors. My aim is to qualify for the 2012 AFCON finals, but most of our players are club-less and not fit. We have built up a squad of 30 players and had two years to prepare. But now, when the moment of truth has arrived, most of them are inactive,’ he said. Saintfiet, meanwhile said he was still looking for an opponent to play on the Fifa international friendly date of August 11. He had requested the NFA to try to arrange a West African opponent to help prepare for Namibia’s opening AFCON qualifier against Gambia on September 4, but the NFA in stead tried to arrange a friendly against Zambia. The Zambian Football Association this week requested a friendly match between the Brave Warriors and Zambia’s national Under 23 team, but Saintfiet turned that down. ‘I wanted to play a west African nation so that I could get good preparation for Gambia, but Zambia would also have been a good opponent because they are a strong side. But I refused to play their Under 23 team – that is an insult to us and how can we prepare for the top African competition against an Under 23 team,’ he said. ‘I have now requested the NFA to try and arrange a friendly against South Africa, Zimbabwe or Mozambique, who do not yet have opponents for August 11,’ he said. – www.namibiasport.com.na
