Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Namibia’s U/20 side, the Young Warriors’ mentor Gerald Guther has named a 19-member squad to represent the country at this year’s Cosafa U/20 Cup underway in Zambia, with Namibia’s first game tomorrow against Group C opponents Angola at the Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe.
Following a two-week training camp in Ghana that saw 26 players being taken through the ropes, head coach Guther finally made the cut, dropping six players as only 19 made the flight to Zambia on Wednesday morning.
Regular youth players such as Eldery Morgan, George Hummel, Lubeni Haukongo, Stanley Ndjavera and Tuhafeni Leonard made the team, but Unam FC‘s skillful Venovineja Tjikundi was dropped, together with African Stars’ Michael Kamuserandu, who was the star of the 2017 The Namibian Newspaper Cup tournament.
Marciano January, from Eleven Arrows, also failed to make the team that embarks upon their journey to reach at least the semi-finals of the regional youth championships, a target coach Guther revealed earlier this week.
Cosafa has revised the fixtures and the Young Warriors will face Angola tomorrow at the Arthur Davies Stadium, before taking on Lesotho in their second group match on Sunday, December10, at the Nkana Stadium. Namibia’s final Group C game will be against Zimbabwe next Tuesday, December 12, at the Nkana Stadium.
Group B consists of last year’s runners-up South Africa, North African guests Egypt, Mozambique and Mauritius. Group A consists of African champions Zambia, Swaziland, East African guest nation Uganda and Malawi. The top teams in each pool advance to the semi-finals along with the best-placed runner-up.
Matches will be played at the Arthur Davies and Nkana stadiums in Kitwe. The group stage will be completed on December 12, followed by a rest day, with the semi-finals to be staged at the Arthur Davies Stadium on December 14. The third-place play-off and the final will move to the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on December 16.
The Namibian squad is as follows: Calvin Spiegel (Chief Santos), Vipua Tjimune (African Stars), Lubeni Haukongo and Aprocius Petrus (Eleven Arrows), Stanley Ndjavera (Tura Magic), Romario Hawiseb (African Stars), Paul Kotjipati (Spoilers FC), Migeri Hubert (Life Fighters), Johannes Hollombach (Chief Santos), George Hummel (Unam FC), Anthony Kham and Rivaldo Festus (Eleven Arrows), Augustinus Hobexab (Eastern Chiefs), Eldery Morgan and Enzo Mungendje (both Tura Magic), Moegamat Davids (South African club), Natangwe Petrus (Khomas), Petrus Kamati (//Kharas), Tuhafeni Leonard (TUKS, South Africa).