Maqonda Ndlovu
Brave Warriors head coach Collin Benjamin says the recently conducted draw for the Council for Southern Africa Football Association (Cosafa) Cup, scheduled for Durban from 5-16 July, is a tough but challenging one for Namibia who have been pitted against South Africa, Eswatini and Botswana in Group A.
Speaking to New Era Sport earlier this week, Benjamin said he was looking forward to the challenge of playing the home team because of the long-standing rivalry between Namibia and South Africa.
“Playing against the home team is the motivation for my boys because of many factors. There is also a long-standing rivalry between us and Botswana based on our population sizes, and us having players in their leagues and so on,” the former Brave Warriors captain said.
He noted that Eswatini is a very physical team who are always difficult to play, and they will challenge his young squad to the maximum.
Benjamin said the main goal for his squad is to qualify for the Af r i ca Cup of Nations, hence the preparation plans will now change slightly as the team will have to focus on playing Burundi before shifting their attention to Cosafa.
Namibia will take on Burundi on 18 June 2023 at a neutral venue in Tanzania.
The Brave Warriors gaffer said the team goes into camp today with mostly home-based players, where the focus will be assessing their physical fitness.
“The foreign-bas ed players will be given an extended holiday and will join us on 07 June before we depart for Tanzania. After the Tanzania game, we will then turn our attention to the Cosafa g a m e s where we will use l o c a l – b a s e d players as well as a few young players from Tanzania (Burundi match),” he explained.
Benjamin added that the players will be divided into two training groups: one for Cosafa and the other for the Afcon tournaments.
On the Cosafa Cup in Durban, Benjamin said they aim to better last year’s achievements when they lost 0-1 to Zambia in the final.
He noted that the absence of the tried and tested foreign-based Brave Warriors allowed the technical team to introduce young and upcoming talented Namibians such as Bethuel Muzeu, Uetuuro Kambato and Tuli-Ngenovali Nashiwa.
Group B comprises Zambia, Malawi, alongside the island nations of Seychelles and Comoros.
Group C wi l l s e e Moz ambi qu e, Angol a , Mauritius and Lesotho clashing for the honours.
– jrnmarko@gmail.com