Maurice Kambukwe
WINDHOEK - Various football pundits strongly believe that national senior football interim coach Bobby Samaria should be given a fixed-term contract as he has proven himself in the last couple of months.
Samaria was appointed as the interim coach in June by the FIFA Normalisation Committee (NC) to lead the team in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers as well as the 2022 World Cup preliminary round.
The former African Stars mentor has been in charge of six national team games and has so far won four and lost one.
He has also drawn one match.
On Saturday he inspired the Brave Warriors to qualify for the 2020 CHAN tournament, which will be held in Cameroon.
The Brave Warriors defeated Madagascar 2-0 (2-1 aggregate) at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.
Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, former Brave Gladiator Julien Garises said Samaria has already proven himself as the next man to lead the senior national team.
“He has proven himself at club level already, so for me he qualifies to lead the team as a permanent coach. He’s a Namibian and the way his players have adopted playing under his leadership is tremendous. He has also introduced several new players, which in my opinion is outstanding.
“He recently called up Pat-Uanivi to the national team squad – with that you can already understand the taste that he has in choosing players,” said Garises.
Another local football pundit Carlos ‘CK’ Kambaekwa was in agreement with Garises on how well Samaria has done in local football.
“He is the most successful coach in Namibia and I think he has done enough to be appointed as a permanent coach. He is giving young players the chance to play despite the absence of the top-flight league. His playing style has proven how well he is with the team and you can see the players are passionate. They are not playing for money,” said Kambaekwa.
Another football pundit, who only chose to comment on condition of anonymity, said that though the team is yet to face a strong opponent, he believes the former African Stars gaffer has done much in the three months he has been in control.
“He deserves a long-term contract. He has done very well in three months. We will face a few challenges when we meet stronger teams but the past three months have given him enough scope to understand how to deal with those challenges, if they arise. Maybe it was good that he started with weaker teams so that he can get his combinations right.”