The senior national Futsal team, ‘Brave Fives’ will be hoping to start their 2024 Total Energies Confederation of African Football (Caf) Futsal Afcon campaign on a high note when they take on Mauritania in their first match slated for 20h00 tonight.

The two teams will square off at the spectacular Salle Prince Moulay Abdellah indoor sporting arena.

Namibia is in Group B alongside, Egypt (ranked 2nd), Mauritania (ranked 12th) and Libya (ranked 3rd) and will take on fellow debutants Mauritania in the first match that is expected to produce fireworks.

The Brave Fives will face Egypt in their second match on Sunday at 17h00, before facing Libya in their last and final group match on Tuesday at 20h00. 

Speaking to caf.online ahead of today’s crucial clash, Namibia’s head coach Ryan Jago said his charges are ready to hit the ground running. 

He added that the competition would be tough, given the team they are pitted against. The gaffer, however, expressed confidence in his team, stating that his charges are ready for tonight’s encounter, while expressing their intentions to qualify for the October Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan.

“We are here to compete, and we want to win it,” said the coach. “I appreciate the fact that there are going to be some tough challenges; there will be some exceptional teams like Egypt and Morocco. They are two teams that have got several Futsal Afcon titles, not to mention the other nations that are here.”

“The tournament has some incredible teams, and we know it would be a tough challenge, but we are fully confident that we can come away with a World Cup place,” Jago said.

The Brave Fives played a friendly and lost 11-3 to the host nation on Tuesday. However, team captain Ken Salote said, “It’s not about how we start; it’s about how we end, so the setback in our friendly is behind us now.” 

“We made the mistakes, and we didn’t take our chances, so we don’t have to look for excuses,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mauritania coach Sellami Abdallah told caf.online they don’t take the Brave Fives lightly, and they will be on the lookout. 

“Namibia can be the surprise team because we don’t know them, so we should be careful in our match.”

“We should be compact and efficient in the final third. We both have the same chances in the match,” said Abdallah.

The Namibian Futsal team, which recently got its affiliation to the international football body, qualified for their first-ever tournament after defeating Tanzania in the two-leg tie. The Brave Fives lost 5-2 at home before redeeming themselves in the second leg when they thrashed Tanzania 6-3 in Dar-es-Salaam.

The tournament will serve as Caf qualifiers for the Fifa Futsal World Cup, which will take place in Uzbekistan in October.

- Additional reporting caf.online.com