‘Guinea upped their game’

Getting the national team ready to qualify and be a force at the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) remains the priority of the Brave Warriors. This was largely the sentiments of national team coach, Ricardo Mannetti after his team was knocked out of the race to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup when the Brave Warriors lost 2-0 to Guinea on Sunday. On Sunday night Guinea scored either side of half-time to progress 3-0 on aggregate after they had secured a 1-0 away win in the first leg. Anderlecht forward Idrissa Sylla put Guinea ahead on 44 minutes, to send the West Africans with a comfortable two-goal aggregate cushion into the break. Guinea then doubled their lead ten minutes from time through Red Bull Salzbourg attacking midfielder Naby Keita, who had scored the winner in Windhoek. Mannetti told NFA.ORG.NA that the difference between the two sides was just too glaring, hence the score line. “Guinea just upped their game and they were more physical in their approach, a much better side and improved from Windhoek and we could not unfortunately keep up with them,” he said. “[They had] too many professionals and much discipline. No wonder they are doing so well in their AFCON qualifiers,” Mannetti added. With the team now knocked out of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and left with no further fixtures in the competition, the Brave Warriors will next be in action during the 2017 AFCON qualifiers. Their next match will thus be against Burundi on the weekend of March 26-29. But qualification for the 2017 event of Africa’s premier competition is already a mountain to climb for Namibia after the team lost its opening fixtures against Niger (1-0) and Senegal (2-0) respectively. This leaves the team with the 2019 AFCON as well as the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) as possible targets. Mannetti agrees that the 2019 AFCON is a far more realistic target for his youthful team. “I’m now more convinced that 2019 AFCON is still a good target for us as we still need to improve in a few but important areas,” stated Mannetti. Improvement The most crucial area of improvement for Namibia is quite common knowledge because the team’s at times non-existent scoring ability is well documented. It is not uncommon to see the national team control most of any match’s possession, only for the final product to be lacking. This scenario played itself out at during the first leg tie against Guinea and was equally visible during the 2017 AFCON qualifier match against Senegal in September. During both matches in Windhoek, Namibia also dictated the pace of the game against their more fancied opponents but both sides only needed just a small sight of goal to score and eventually win the respective games. This means that avoiding small mistakes, which will be punished by more professional teams, which is another area the Brave Warriors will have to improve on. The third area that needs improvement is not that well documented, even though it is glaringly obvious. Namibia’s Brave Warriors are not the best of travellers and have not won a competitive away match since beating Djibouti 4-0 in 2011. (Ed’s note: Namibia won the Cosafa Cup on neutral ground). Home support The fourth area that needs improvement is one that Mannetti and his players have no control over and that is unwavering support from the home crowd. During the first leg tie against Guinea, a section of the crowd heckled Willy Stephanus and Benson Shilongo, both of whom were hailed as heroes just a month ago when they helped the Brave Warriors beat Gambia. Such fickle support means that whatever confidence the players develop in themselves and the national cause will be eroded just as quickly as it was gained. -Adapted from NFA.ORG.NA HECTOR MAWONGA