Windhoek
With the Baby Gladiators booted out of the 2016 FIFA Women Under-17 World Cup qualifiers by Nigeria the Namibia Football Association (NFA) youth activities continue with an emphasis on the boys Under-17s and Under-20s for this year’s international competitions.
The NFA Youth Football Department is to conduct national trials for boys under the age of 17 in preparation for the visit of their German counterparts Westphalia. The Germans will be competing in the Four Nations Youth Tourney at Walvis Bay in March.
The team will also use the competition as springboard for their upcoming qualification for the 2017 Africa Under-17 Cup of Nations in Madagascar.
Jakes Amaning the NFA Youth Football coordinator explains the programme. “We have invited players born in 2000 to come for trials starting on Wednesday, 27 January in Windhoek.
“These youngsters are mainly those that participated in the Skorpion Zinc Cup in Tsumeb last year and will be joined by others we have been keeping tabs on. We will also be going around the country for trials to see more players who will not make it to Windhoek,” explains Amaning.
“The primary idea is to try and cast our net wide in an effort to find the best players in the country as we have a very busy schedule ahead of us. International assignments are coming thick and fast and apart from the four nations, we are faced with the CAF Under-17 Cup in June and the Zone Five Games towards the end of the year in Angola.”
Coach Turipamue Upi is still entrusted with the task of mentoring the Under-17 boys football team, while Gerald Gunter remains in charge of the Under-20 side for the qualifiers for the Zambia 2017 CAF Youth Championships.
“We have assembled a squad of good players that have been with us for the past three years from Under-17s who have been playing in the Cosafa Cup.”