BRAVE Warriors captain Henrico Botes says his side does not consider tonight’s tie against Bafana Bafana as a friendly match, but an all-out war in which Namibia must come out tops.
“Despite it being labelled a friendly international, we are not going to be nice to anyone, we will go in there and compete to win,” he said. The match will kick off at 20h00 at the Sam Nujoma Stadium and not at 19h00 as reported earlier, the organisers announced yesterday.Botes, who will be captaining the side for the fourth time since he was included in the Warriors squad last year, said his teammates are charged up and raring to go.”We have the core of players from the Cosafa Castle Cup and we are convinced that we will pull off this one.The coach (Ben Bamfuchile) has a lot of confidence in the players and as far as I have seen, the players also believe in themselves,” Botes said.The Moroka Swallows (South African Premier Soccer League (PSL side) striker added that he was generally happy with the composition of the team, as there is a mixture of experience and youth.”The local players have really impressed me with their standard compared to the foreign internationals.They are hungry for victory, but with some lacking a lot of experience on international level.I think their level of fitness is superb and they can do the job for their country,” he said.Botes, who played for local premiership side Ramblers before he moved to Swallows last season, said the players are eager to beat South Africa on home soil, as their predecessors did in the 1998 and 1999 Cosafa Castle Cup matches.Namibia have only met South Africa three times on senior national level since Independence and won two of these encounters, while losing one during the 1998 African Nations Cup in Burkina Faso.Robert Nauseb, George Hummel and Collin Benjamin are the only survivors in the current team from the side that beat South Africa in those two years.Their presence tonight will be an advantage for the Warriors in terms of experience.Botes, who will be leading the attack, has so far scored two goals in his three matches for the national team and is the youngest player to have captained the side.Another youngster, but an explosive Namibian midfielder, Heinrich Isaacks, believes that Namibia stands a good chance to beat the visitors.”We have a big chance as usual against South Africa.The team (Namibia) is in an excellent mood.All we need is the support of the Namibian people at the match and I can guarantee that we will win,” he said.Isaacks, who is 21 this year, was voted Namibia’s Footballer of the Year last Saturday and also emerged as the leading scorer in the Namibia Premier League (NPL) last season with 20 goals to his tally.Isaacks plays for Civics in the domestic league.Another key player for Namibia, midfielder Nelson Akwenye, said it was now or never for Namibia.”As the coach said, this match serves as preparation for the African Nations Cup qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo.That means we are looking at the bigger picture, but we are not going to be complacent for now.We will go out there and get the goals,” he said.The South African team arrived yesterday afternoon and had a light training session later in the day.Organisers said tickets would be sold at Soccer House in Katutura for N$20 per person during office hours, but can also be bought at the gates tonight.The match will kick off at 20h00 at the Sam Nujoma Stadium and not at 19h00 as reported earlier, the organisers announced yesterday.Botes, who will be captaining the side for the fourth time since he was included in the Warriors squad last year, said his teammates are charged up and raring to go.”We have the core of players from the Cosafa Castle Cup and we are convinced that we will pull off this one.The coach (Ben Bamfuchile) has a lot of confidence in the players and as far as I have seen, the players also believe in themselves,” Botes said.The Moroka Swallows (South African Premier Soccer League (PSL side) striker added that he was generally happy with the composition of the team, as there is a mixture of experience and youth.”The local players have really impressed me with their standard compared to the foreign internationals.They are hungry for victory, but with some lacking a lot of experience on international level.I think their level of fitness is superb and they can do the job for their country,” he said.Botes, who played for local premiership side Ramblers before he moved to Swallows last season, said the players are eager to beat South Africa on home soil, as their predecessors did in the 1998 and 1999 Cosafa Castle Cup matches.Namibia have only met South Africa three times on senior national level since Independence and won two of these encounters, while losing one during the 1998 African Nations Cup in Burkina Faso.Robert Nauseb, George Hummel and Collin Benjamin are the only survivors in the current team from the side that beat South Africa in those two years.Their presence tonight will be an advantage for the Warriors in terms of experience.Botes, who will be leading the attack, has so far scored two goals in his three matches for the national team and is the youngest player to have captained the side.Another youngster, but an explosive Namibian midfielder, Heinrich Isaacks, believes that Namibia stands a good chance to beat the visitors.”We have a big chance as usual against South Africa.The team (Namibia) is in an excellent mood.All we need is the support of the Namibian people at the match and I can guarantee that we will win,” he said.Isaacks, who is 21 this year, was voted Namibia’s Footballer of the Year last Saturday and also emerged as the leading scorer in the Namibia Premier League (NPL) last season with 20 goals to his tally.Isaacks plays for Civics in the domestic league.Another key player for Namibia, midfielder Nelson Akwenye, said it was now or never for Namibia.”As the coach said, this match serves as preparation for the African Nations Cup qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo.That means we are looking at the bigger picture, but we are not going to be complacent for now.We will go out there and get the goals,” he said.The South African team arrived yesterday afternoon and had a light training session later in the day.Organisers said tickets would be sold at Soccer House in Katutura for N$20 per person during office hours, but can also be bought at the gates tonight.
