Brave Warriors need more matches: Mannetti
Brave Warriors coach Ricardo Mannetti has expressed the need for his team to get more matches to improve their Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) world rankings.
Speaking to Nampa via WhatsApp on Thursday, Mannetti said Fifa rankings work on the number of matches played by the Brave Warriors.
“We need to remain active for us to improve our rankings. It is straightforward, we need to play as many matches as we can, then our rankings will improve,” he said, after the Warriors moved up four places to 132 on the latest rankings released on Thursday.
Mannetti added that if Namibia did not play friendly matches or any qualifiers, their ranking would, as evidenced by how active the team was between June and August this year, culminating in inconsistent rankings over this period.
In June, Namibia was ranked 94th in the world before dropping 62 places to rank 156th in July. The Warriors then moved up 20 places to rank 136th in August, preceding their latest ranking of 132nd in September.
The big dip in July's rankings is attributed to the Warriors participating in the Council of Southern African Football Associations tournament, where they lost 1-0 in the Plate Final to South Africa, while the improved ranking was subsequent to their win over Zimbabwe in a two-legged African Nations Championship (Chan) second-round qualifier.
Namibia won 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw aggregate over the two legs.
They then played the Comoros Islands in the same competition, whom they beat 2-0 at home and lost 2-1 away. The next rankings are due in early October.
NAMPA
Speaking to Nampa via WhatsApp on Thursday, Mannetti said Fifa rankings work on the number of matches played by the Brave Warriors.
“We need to remain active for us to improve our rankings. It is straightforward, we need to play as many matches as we can, then our rankings will improve,” he said, after the Warriors moved up four places to 132 on the latest rankings released on Thursday.
Mannetti added that if Namibia did not play friendly matches or any qualifiers, their ranking would, as evidenced by how active the team was between June and August this year, culminating in inconsistent rankings over this period.
In June, Namibia was ranked 94th in the world before dropping 62 places to rank 156th in July. The Warriors then moved up 20 places to rank 136th in August, preceding their latest ranking of 132nd in September.
The big dip in July's rankings is attributed to the Warriors participating in the Council of Southern African Football Associations tournament, where they lost 1-0 in the Plate Final to South Africa, while the improved ranking was subsequent to their win over Zimbabwe in a two-legged African Nations Championship (Chan) second-round qualifier.
Namibia won 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw aggregate over the two legs.
They then played the Comoros Islands in the same competition, whom they beat 2-0 at home and lost 2-1 away. The next rankings are due in early October.
NAMPA
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