Warriors to take on Bafana in Durbs

NAMIBIA’S Brave Warriors have been invited to play South Africa in a high-profile friendly in Durban on March 3.

National team coach Tom Saintfiet told The Namibian Sport that the match will serve to inaugurate the 70 000-seat state-of-the-art Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, which will be one of the venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in June. Sainfiet revealed that the Warriors will be in the company of FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who is scheduled to inaugurate the World Cup stadium. ‘It’s been officially confirmed that Namibia will play Bafana Bafana in this inauguration match. Everyone in Namibian football should be very happy that we have been invited to play in such an important match. South Africa will field a strong squad so we will also go with our best players for the match. It is a chance to show that we can also compete against the likes of South Africa,’ said Saintfiet.He also said that this dream fixture would allow him to asses his team’s character. A preliminary 25-man squad will be announced later this week for a mini-camp, after which 20 players will make the final cut. ‘We are not going there to lose, we will go there to get a good result. I want to see that my team can play with discipline and organisation. A team of 25 players of local and foreign-based players will be announced tomorrow [today], then we will choose 20 for the team to go to South Africa.’The 1-0 defeat against Zambia during the Cosafa Castle Cup in Zimbabwe on October 25 last year was the Brave Warriors’ last official match. sheefeni@namibian.com.na