Warriors to rely on good form in friendlies

THE Brave Warriors will leave Namibia this morning for South Africa with high hopes of maintaining their recent good form in several friendly matches in that country, before taking on DRC in a Nations Cup qualifier on September 3 in Kinshasa.

The Namibian team will play South African premiership club Mamelodi Sundowns on Friday in a warm-up match in Pretoria, but will have a light training session later today, before two full sessions tomorrow ahead of their match. It has not been confirmed whether they would play against Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates in their next match, which is scheduled for either next week Tuesday or Wednesday.Warriors team manager Markus Damaseb yesterday said they were still in discussions with the two South African glamour sides and will know before the end of the week which of the two they will play against.All the warm-up matches will be played at the training grounds of the respective clubs.There is a possibility of a third warm-up match on August 31, before the team heads for DRC, according to Damaseb.Damaseb said the local players were supposed to leave on Sunday, but the management was still sorting out logistical issues before going down to South Africa.Damaseb said 13 local players will leave today for South Africa and will be joined there by their counterparts who play in the professional leagues in that country, while one European-based player is expected at the weekend.Damaseb said midfielder Collin Benjamin from Bundesliga side Hamburg SV will be the only foreign-based player who will join the team leaving for the Democratic Republic of Congo on September 1.Turkey-based right winger Razundara Tjikuzu forfeited his chances of being selected for the national team after he refused to write a letter of apology to the team management.Tjikuzu and several other players snuck out of their hotel rooms while the team was in camp during the Cosafa Cup matches held in Namibia.Midfielder Quinton Jacobs will make a welcome return to the national fold after having attended trials in Norway for the past weeks, but will only join the team next Tuesday.Jacobs was playing for Ajax Cape Town last season and it is not yet known if his trials with a Norwegian premiership side have been successful.Other players currently in South Africa who will join the locals are defenders George Hummel, Hartman Toromba and Richard Gariseb, strikers Henrico Botes and Sidney Plaatjies, goalkeepers Zico Paulus and Athiel Mbaha and midfielder Robert Nauseb.The other player who will be flown in is former Blue Waters left winger Meraai Swartbooi, who was signed by Angolan top-division side Premero de Agosto for this season.He will join the team later this week.Namibia’s talented midfielder and 2006 Footballer of the Year, Heinrich Isaacks, will not be involved in any of the warm-up matches, as he will be in Germany for trials.Civics’ spokesperson Tim Isaacs said the player will be leaving for Germany this week or early next week.Meanwhile, South African television commentator and football analyst Thomas Kwenaite told The Namibian Sport yesterday that Namibia has the potential of qualifying for the Nations Cup with the current squad, as they have proved to be extremely competitive on international level.”They have really come of age and their performance against Bafana Bafana (South Africa) in a recent friendly proved that the team has enormous talent and only needs to play more matches at that level to start producing the desired results,” he said.Kwenaite said the Namibians needed to make use of their goal-scoring opportunities, but he was confident that the defence and midfield could match any team.Namibia an international friendly in their last match against South African and lost 1-0, but prior to that, was involved in Cosafa Cup matches which took place in Windhoek.They lost out in the competition, losing on penalties to Seychelles, but redeemed themselves with a 3-2 win over Malawi the next day.Namibia also moved up the Fifa rankings and are now placed on position 137 (from 168), because of playing in an A categorised match against a highly ranked country.It has not been confirmed whether they would play against Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates in their next match, which is scheduled for either next week Tuesday or Wednesday.Warriors team manager Markus Damaseb yesterday said they were still in discussions with the two South African glamour sides and will know before the end of the week which of the two they will play against.All the warm-up matches will be played at the training grounds of the respective clubs.There is a possibility of a third warm-up match on August 31, before the team heads for DRC, according to Damaseb.Damaseb said the local players were supposed to leave on Sunday, but the management was still sorting out logistical issues before going down to South Africa.Damaseb said 13 local players will leave today for South Africa and will be joined there by their counterparts who play in the professional leagues in that country, while one European-based player is expected at the weekend.Damaseb said midfielder Collin Benjamin from Bundesliga side Hamburg SV will be the only foreign-based player who will join the team leaving for the Democratic Republic of Congo on September 1.Turkey-based right winger Razundara Tjikuzu forfeited his chances of being selected for the national team after he refused to write a letter of apology to the team management.Tjikuzu and several other players snuck out of their hotel rooms while the team was in camp during the Cosafa Cup matches held in Namibia.Midfielder Quinton Jacobs will make a welcome return to the national fold after having attended trials in Norway for the past weeks, but will only join the team next Tuesday.Jacobs was playing for Ajax Cape Town last season and it is not yet known if his trials with a Norwegian premiership side have been successful.Other players currently in South Africa who will join the locals are defenders George Hummel, Hartman Toromba and Richard Gariseb, strikers Henrico Botes and Sidney Plaatjies, goalkeepers Zico Paulus and Athiel Mbaha and midfielder Robert Nauseb.The other player who will be flown in is former Blue Waters left winger Meraai Swartbooi, who was signed by Angolan top-division side Premero de Agosto for this season.He will join the team later this week.Namibia’s talented midfielder and 2006 Footballer of the Year, Heinrich Isaacks, will not be involved in any of the warm-up matches, as he will be in Germany for trials.Civics’ spokesperson Tim Isaacs said the player will be leaving for Germany this week or early next week.Meanwhile, South African television commentator and football analyst Thomas Kwenaite told The Namibian Sport yesterday that Namibia has the potential of qualifying for the Nations Cup with the current squad, as they have proved to be extremely competitive on international level.”They have really come of age and their performance against Bafana Bafana (South Africa) in a recent friendly proved that the team has enormous talent and only needs to play more matches at that level to start producing the desired results,” he said.Kwenaite said the Namibians needed to make use of their goal-scoring opportunities, but he was confident that the defence and midfield could match any team.Namibia an international friendly in their last match against South African and lost 1-0, but prior to that, was involved in Cosafa Cup matches which took place in Windhoek.They lost out in the competition, losing on penalties to Seychelles, but redeemed themselves with a 3-2 win over Malawi the next day.Namibia also moved up the Fifa rankings and are now placed on position 137 (from 168), because of playing in an A categorised match against a highly ranked country.