2016-04-01Staff Report 2 Truth be told and before you start calling yours truly a wet blanket, the Brave Warriors’ embarrassing performance, on home soil nogal, against the visiting Burundi, has certainly set alarm bells ringing. It’s about time athletes starts realizing that playing for your native land is indeed an honour that demands lots of responsibilities and commitment. Athletes, footballers in particular, should start taking ownership of the task at hand by putting their body and soul into the task, and roll with the punches. Playing at home should be regarded as an added advantage for athletes to perform above themselves. It’s our stadium, our cloakrooms and with the crowd behind our team: players should be obliged by the oath to give 110% effort and intimidate our opponents by scaring the hell out of them, even way before kick-off. That’s the name of the game! Does yours truly really need to remind you, our esteemed readers, that at times our boys looked like they were playing away from home as they allowed the visitors to dictate matters, knocking the ball around at will while teasing our clearly confused players and making them look like beginners. My personal assessment is that the Warriors’ victory in the Cosafa Cup has propelled our players to get carried away, while complacency has also crept into some of the playing personnel. It’s now crystal clear that some of the players have lost the urgency and the much-needed hunger for success, while considering themselves untouchables. Some of the leading members in the current Brave Warriors squad are cruising in the comfort zone and need to be awakened by being dropped from the squad to make way for other players who are craving for success. HELLO!!! The national team is not a private institution or a close family empire, where members own permanent lodging – it’s a national asset whose integrity needs to be protected at all times, period! Football is an emotional game and such lacklustre showing should no longer be tolerated. Players are definitely not doing the general football public an iota of favour by turning out for the national team – it’s a scared honour and privilege to represent your country and certainly not the other way round. Namibia has absolutely no business losing against football minnows in the mould of Burundi in the embarrassing fashion in which we were torn apart by a country with no recognized football pedigree. We can no longer ride on the comfort of the Cosafa Cup triumph, that’s water under the bridge – the Warriors need to move on, Cosafa is statistics. It should noted that the game of football is a result driven industry and should the current trend continue, drastic measures must be taken to arrest the current slump if we are to avoid becoming the laughing stock of international football. Our youth football, a bird of passage Least we forget, it was surely a week to forget as our national Under-17 football side also brought shame to the country with another unacceptable performance in the tri-nation youth tourney, in the harbour town of Walvis Bay. The youngsters suffered heavy defeats against the visiting Ghana and Westphalia teams, prompting one to do some retrospection. The Achilles heel in Namibian football is the lack of, or rather non-existent, structures in school football. Our football will never flourish in the conspicuous absence of organized league football at all schools across the country, from primary up to secondary level. I rest my case. 2016-04-01Staff Report 2
