THE national women’s under-20 team face a challenging trip to Accra when they take on powerhouse Ghana in the first leg of their Fifa Women U/20 World Cup qualifier on Saturday.
The team is made up of six players from the U/17 team, who were drafted into the side for exposure, according to head coach Jacqueline Shipanga. Namibia host Ghana in Windhoek on March 4 for the return leg.The team will be joined by Tomalina Adams from Germany and Veweziwa Kotjipati, the latest player from Namibia to join her team mates in German football while also working and studying part-time.Team captain is JS Academy’s hard-tackling defensive midfielder Lena Noreses, a 17-year-old, who was expected to compete at the Zonal Athletics Schools Championships in the 100m, 200m and 400m events yesterday. Another notable inclusion is Scholastica Ndara from Surusungu High School at Rundu, hailed by the technical team as a speedy player with great technical ability. Ndara was discovered during the Women’s Football Talent Identification programme held last year. The team is led by relative novice coaches in Joseph Swartz and Aaron Hambira.Shipanga praised the NFA for consistently investing in women’s football in recent times, which has allowed them compete internationally regardless of their limited financial position. ‘Considering our players’ ages and lack of international experience at youth level, any coach will doubt entering a team in a competition of this nature but the NFA executive has committed itself towards the development of the girl child and women’s football is arguably the number one female sport in Namibia at this stage, with development structures in 11 regions thus far,’ Shipanga said.Shipanga also attributed the women’s football development to the huge financial investment from Unicef, Fifa and Deutscher Fussball Bund (DFB).’Their support has been instrumental in the development of youth football in our country; in fact the NFA Women’s Desk needs more support now than ever with capacity building and human resource to sustain the growth of this game.’In the final squad that departs today are:Agnes Kauzuu, Lovisa Mulunga, Eddelissingh Naris, Lena Noreses, Lorraine Jossob, Vitapamwe Kamahene, Veweziwa Kotjipati, Albertha Dawes, Thandi Malo, Annouscka Kordom, Anuschka Meyer, Mellisa Matheus, Carmel Don, Tomalina Adams, Vistorine Shaangula, Scholastica Ndara, Depney Naobes and Jane Toivo.
