Shipanga happy with Lesotho friendly results

WINDHOEKHECTOR MAWONGA Namibia's national women's football team coach, Jacqui Shipanga, has expressed happiness over the two friendly matches the Brave Gladiators played against Lesotho the past week. The first game took place on Thursday, which the home team won 2-1, while on Saturday the teams played to a 3-3 draw, with both matches taking place at the Sam Nujoma Stadium. Speaking to local radio Fresh FM's Hesron Kapanga, Shipanga said these are the sort of games her youthful team needs if they are to do well in the future. “I think the more games we play, the more are going to improve. It's one thing to train but it's another thing to really play competitive football,” she said after Saturday's game. “And I'm just happy that we managed to give all 20 players [in the squad] an opportunity to play,” Shipanga added. With Namibia due to host the African Women's Nations Cup next year, the coach went on to say that everything the team is doing is geared towards being a competitive side at the event. “2014 is our immediate objective [in keeping this team together]. Most of the girls are quite young... and they will tend to suffer [when competing]. So we also need to be realistic because the team should be a blend of experience and youngsters as well,” she said. On Saturday, Namibia had a chance to record a second victory over their southern African rivals as they led 3-2 at one stage of the game; only to concede an equalising goal in the last minutes of the match. Shipanga insisted these types of mistakes can only be corrected with more game time. “We just need to work better on our concentration... and I also want to thank the crowd that turned up here today. The Brave Warriors were also here and we just want to say thanks for the support,” she added. Meanwhile, Lesotho's coach, Chamela Chamela, had nothing but praise for his team, even though they did not record a win on their trip. “I'm very impressed with my girls. It was not an easy encounter but we enjoyed the game and hopefully everybody here did so too,” he said. Chamela added that the trip was very educative for his team as they will introduce some of the things already being done in Namibia. “We have learnt a lot because in Namibia the girls play in the Super League, which is why they are so competitive. Since a Super League will also be introduced in Lesotho, we have taken note of how it's run here,” he said, adding that he was equally impressed by the Namibian players. “This team will go very far,” he concluded.