What do you believe the first role of coaching is?
I believe the first role of coaching is to guide the players and enable them to deliver the best possible results according to their abilities. The role has become more complex and is broader now; we deal with issues off the pitch that influence the players’ performance on the pitch.
If you had two words to describe your relationship with football, what would they be?
I don’t know if two words will do justice to my relationship with football, but I’d strongly say it was love at first sight and that football is my life.
How would you describe your coaching style? Do you think playing in the Bundesliga League influenced that?
I wouldn’t say I have a specific coaching style because it always varies, depending on the situation, and I try to adapt. However, I can say that I’m fiercely competitive, and I have a few basic principles centred around mentality and ambition. You can’t expect results if you don’t put in the work, so I want everybody in the team, including myself, to put in the work.
You have spent 421 days as BW coach; can you give us an overview of what it has been like being at the helm of the senior national team?
Joh! 421 days in office – well, what I can definitely say is that I love being on the field; I really love working with the players. When I started this job, we didn’t have an active league. Trying to get a team together to compete at the Cosafa was crazy. I know we have done it before, but it’s not normal. Calling players based on performance from a year ago and having these players turn up at training with an extra ten kilos gained was crazy, and I hope we don’t go back to that. Then there are issues like stadiums. We are in Namibia, and the resources are not in abundance. We do have a lack of resources, but the leadership and everybody at the secretariat have been very supportive, and we are just doing the best with what we have. I have decided to just concentrate on our sporting targets; those are the targets we can influence. We will focus on playing football and getting results.
Your record as Brave Warriors coach is nine matches: three wins, three draws and three defeats. How comfortable are you with these results?
What I know is that we want to get better, so we are never relaxed or satisfied, but we have to consider where we are coming from and where we want to go. Our target remains qualification for Afcon. At last year’s Cosafa, we made it to the final round – and this year, we bowed out in the first round. from this experience, I learned that we need to do more work – that we need to bring consistency into our game, and that we have to work together with our current players and those who have the potential to play for us. Our players, especially the ones at home, need to realise that your body is your capital; you need to take care of that. You have to be a consistent athlete before you get on the national team.
Holding African powerhouse, Cameroon, to a draw at home and then defeating them in South Africa is one of your career highlights thus far. What did you take from this experience?
Preparation was key. We were really prepared; we did our work. Everybody chipped in. We all bought into the concept of winning. We were all motivated, and what I know now from that is that if we put in the work and do it as a team and everyone is moving in the same direction, you increase the chances of being rewarded positively.
Two Cosafa competitions; two different results with the same team – from being runners-up to getting knocked out at the group stage. What really went wrong and what could we have done better?
I’d say getting to the stage is fine but staying on the stage is the real hustle. Technically, talent brings you to the platform, but hard work keeps you there. To a certain extent, we shouldn’t get complacent; we shouldn’t stop working. That’s what we learned from this year’s Cosafa – but at the same time, it’s normal for young players. The pressure becomes higher because the expectations are raised. People expect you to deliver because last time you did. I believe our players gained experience in the sense that they now know there are different pressures; the pressure of getting there is easy, but the pressure of staying there is hard.
We have seen several young players get their first caps in crucial matches. Is this something we will keep seeing regularly?
It’s normal that young players will come through as time goes by; we have to integrate them into the system and give them the opportunity to grow into the game – but at the same time, it just doesn’t mean it’s just young players. It doesn’t mean if you are young, you get a free ticket; you still have to work. You will get a chance but it’s up to you if you remain in the team. The senior players have proven they are still capable, and that’s also a message to the new players. That’s the way it should be. You won’t be chosen by virtue of being a young player; you will be chosen by being a hungry and hardworking player. Through hard work, you will get a chance – and again, you will have to work extra hard to stay there.
Critics pointed out that you may lack coaching experience because you do not have prior experience coaching a local team. What is your take on this?
I respect everybody – whether it’s a youth coach, junior coach or senior coach. I think everyone is doing their best – and at the same time, I don’t think having to coach at home is necessarily the yardstick. I was the assistant to Ricardo Mannetti with Ronny Kanalelo from 2018. I used that period to get to know the Namibian player better as a person, and that was really valuable. Either way, I did my coaching licence in Germany – and having played at the highest level over a certain period of time, I remember that in Hamburg, for the eleven seasons that I was there, I had close to twelve coaches, all from different countries and nationalities, and that should count for something. So, in that regard, I believe I’m adequately prepared and qualified. I’m in a good space to lead the Braves.
Do you think the experience of having played in Germany counts for something now that you are coaching?
Of course, it does count for something or at least for a lot. Through the networks I have built over the years, I’m constantly learning about what is happening abroad, and that is always an experience that is valuable to pass on to the players. I can always tell the story. I was born and raised in Katutura, and I made it. With that, I want to inspire players; there are no limitations to what you can achieve in life.
Aside from your contractual obligations, what else do you hope to achieve with the team?
For us, as a technical team, or for me, it is to improve the individual players because if they get better, the team gets better. Also, if we can help players to such a form or space where players are scouted out of Namibia to play professionally and make a living from it, that will be a bonus.
We are happy that young players like Megameno Approcius, Prins Tjiueza and Junior Petrus could make that move to Kosovo, that Dynamo Fredericks made a move to League Champions in Botswana at 31 or that Steven Damaseb might find his feet in Egypt. This is what we want to see; it makes us happy and the job more fulfilling. My other dream is to leave this job better than when I found it. I want to put structures in place that enable the continuous development of players from junior age groups who will gradually develop into the senior national team set-up.
Who is the most underrated player you’ve worked with?
A lot of players in Namibia have a lot of talent, but it’s no secret that talent alone is not enough. All the Namibian players have to strive to do more than what they are asked to do.
If there is one value that coaching the Braves has taught you, what is it?
It’s a sentence I’d say. Keep working in silence and try to shut all the noise out. That’s basically kind of my motto with the Braves.
- Photos: Nampa