After a long absence from competitive football, Namibia’s U20 soccer team, the Young Warriors travel to Maputo on Friday to face Mozambique in the 2015 CAF African Youth Championship qualifiers, preliminary round first leg match.
The team has been in camp for the past three weeks under the mentorship of NFA Technical Director Klaus Staerk and his assistant James Britz in Windhoek.
The two teams meet for the first leg on Saturday at 15h00 Namibian time in Maputo as the race to Senegal 2015 starts in earnest. The second leg will be played in Windhoek at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on 26 April.
The Namibian team boasts some exciting players such as Uaseuako Katjiukua who won the 2013 Namibian Newspaper Cup with Otjozondjupa and now plies his trade with Premier League side Rundu Chiefs, while another member of the victorious Otjozondjupa team, Glenn Kamutjete of Life Fighters FC also makes the team.
Esko Kavela starred for Oshana region at the 2012 Newspaper Cup edition in Keetmanshoop and plays Premiership football for Eleven Arrows, while the lanky Mohawk-styled Kaizen Football Academy (KFA) star Wendell Rudath is also in the mix.
The winner of the encounter between Namibia and Mozambique will take on Zambia in the first round of the qualifiers. The 2015 football tournament will take place between 8 and 22 March 2015 in Senegal and will see the semifinalists qualify for the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup.
The Namibian squad is as follows:
Esko Kavela, Glenn Kamutjete, Uaseuako Katjiukua, Wendell Rudath, Hendry Duwe and Sakkara Kambungu (both Swakopmund Football Club), Donovan Kanjaa (Young African), Vitapi Nagruka (United Stars), Jackson Johannes (Oshakati City), Marco Somseb (Tura Magic), Ananias Nakambuli (Benfica), Isensius Mutuku (Rundu Chiefs), Marcel Papama (Young African), Riaan !Hanamub and Jonas Matheus (both Touch and Go), Brandon Goagoseb (Orlando Pirates), Donovan Gainub (Tura Magic) and Risto Makuti (United Stars).
