Namibia senior football side, the Brave Warriors, will this weekend head to the northern town of Oshakati for two friendly matches against teams from that neck of the woods, as coach Bobby Samaria takes his home-based players through the ropes before a final squad for the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals is announced.
Interim gaffer Samaria currently has a total of 32 players in camp and by 21 March the final 23-man squad to travel to Cameroon for this year’s CHAN tournament will be selected. The team leaves today for Oshakati. Notable new faces to the 32-man squad are old-time campaigners Willy Stephanus and Denzil Haoseb.
Tomorrow, Warriors’ players will pay a courtesy call to the Office of the Oshana Governor at 11h30 before heading to the Oshana Mall for a brief meet-and-greet and photo sessions with members of the public.
They will hold a training session at Uukwangula Stadium later in the day ahead of Saturday’s matches. The first match on Saturday will be against Oshakati Best 11, before facing Northern Namibia Best 11 in the second match of the day.
The 2020 CHAN will be held in Cameroon from 4 to 26 April. Namibia is in Group D together with Guinea, Zambia and Tanzania and will be based in Limbe.
Namibia will start their campaign against Guinea on 7 April at the Limbe Stadium, before taking on Tanzania for their second group match on 11 April at the same venue. They will not have to move base as they finish off the group encounters with a clash against Zambia on 15 April also at the Limbe Stadium.
The 32-man squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Kamaiyanda Ndisiro, Ratanda Mbazuvara, Jonas Matheus, Charles Uirab and Immanuel Immanuel. Defenders: Vitapi Ngaruka, Emilio Martin, Ivan Kamberipa, Pat-Nevin Uanivi, Rehabeam Mbango, Aprocius Petrus, Gregory Auchumeb, Larry Haraeb, Denzil Haoseb, Johannes Mutunga and Erastus Ikeinge. Midfielders: Dynamo Fredericks, Wendell Rudath, Obrey Amseb, Gustav lsaack, Lywelyn Stanley, Absalom limbondi, Immanuel Heita, Clephas Nuukushu, Marcel Papama and Brendon Neibeb. Strikers: Elmo Kambindu, Panduleni Nekundi, Isaskar Gurirab, Mapenzi Muwanei, Salomom Omseb and Willy Stephanus.