Samaria going for broke

BRAVE Warriors coach Bobby Samaria yesterday named a squad of 36 players for Namibia’s final two Afcon 2022 qualifying matches, away to Chad on 24 March and at home to Guinea four days later.

The squad includes 14 foreign-based professionals, 12 local-based players, and four players who are currently unattached, while Samaria also called up three of Namibia’s star players at the recent u20 Afcon finals in Mauritania, namely Steven Damaseb, Prins Tjiueza and Amazing Kandjii.

The foreign-based contingent includes Peter Shalulile and Deon Hotto, who are both in great form for their South African clubs Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates respectively; Ryan Nyambe of Blackburn Rovers; Tiberius Lombard and Willy Stephanus of Zambian clubs Zanaco FC and Lusaka Dynamos respectively; as well as Wangu Gome of Armenian club FC Alashkert, and Dynamo Fredericks who recently joined Highlands Park.

German-based Manfred Starke, who is now with third division club FSV Zwickau is recalled for the first time since the 2019 Afcon finals in Morocco, but Benson Shilongo who plays for Egyptian premier league club Ismaily SC, has been dropped, while Malaysian-based Petrus Shitembi is unavailable due to injury.

With the top two teams in each group qualifying for the 2022 Afcon finals, Namibia’s hopes are hanging by a thread as they are third in Group A on three points, behind Mali on 10 and Guinea on eight, but Samaria hasn’t given up hope yet.

Öur game against Chad is vital, while the game between Mali and Guinea is equally important. Guinea has home ground advantage and they only need a point, but we hope that Mali will go all out to ensure a victory,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

Despite failing to get past the first round of the Chan tournament in Cameroon in January, Samaria said that the team had made progress.

“We lost our first game 3-0 to Guinea, our second game we lost 1-0 to Tanzania and our third game we drew 0-0 against Zambia, so if you look at that sequence of events you will see that the team has progressed and improved. Going into that tournament, we did not play any competitive international friendly games and it was evident that we lacked game time, because if you are planning, a game is almost the equivalent of 20 training sessions,” he said.

“But of course, this time around, we will have our professional players, the Shaluliles and Hotto’s who are doing great for their clubs, and we hope that they will bring that form over to the motherland,” he added.

Looking to the future

Regarding the call-up of the three u20 players, Samaria said they had definite potential but needed time to jell in with the senior squad.

"Kandjii is a left-footed player playing left back and I think he did very well and so did Steven Damaseb and Prins Tjiueza. As young as they are I think they have shown their mettle during the recent u20 Afcon tournament, but being ready to play for the senior national team is a different story,” he said.

"We know the players now, so it’s for us to bring them on board to train with the bigger boys and to see how they jell with the senior national team. For us it’s now to know and understand the human being behind the player, the player side we have seen, so now we need to see the personality, and hence they have been called up,” he said.

Samaria said that striker Benson Shilongo had been dropped, since he was behind in ‘the pecking order,’ but that midfielder Immanuel Heita had been retained, despite his disastrous performance in the 3-0 defeat against Guinea at Chan.

“Heita who had a disastrous game against Guinea that led to us conceding our first goal after only 12 minutes. But he is still in the squad and we do not punish players because of mistakes, that’s not the nature of football – if you have quality, you have quality.

Samaria said that all the players will have to undergo mandatory Covid-19 tests and will be isolated, and their training camp will only start next week some time once their results have been received.

"We had a discussion with all the foreign-based players, but at this point in time it seems like they will be released. With Ryan (Nyambe) all that is now required from him is to ensure that he goes back with a negative result. The Zambian-based players have also confirmed, and in fact they are completing their schedule this weekend and will report for camp on Monday,” he said.

"We expect our full complement of players only on the 21st of March and we are leaving the next day, so it will be impossible to play a friendly match. But that is why we have decided to bank on our foreign-based players who will have game time week-in and week-out,” he said.

The Namibian squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Loydt Kazapua, Virgil Vries, Edward Maova, Ratanda Mbazuvara, Ndisiro Kamaijanda.

Defenders: Tiberius Lombard, Ryan Nyambe, Ananias Gebhardt, Immanuel Heita, Riaan !Hanamub, Ivan Kamberipa, Emilio Martin, Amazing Kandjii, Vitapi Ngaruka, Aprocius Petrus, Denzil Haoseb, Charles Hambira.

Midfielders: Deon Hotto, Wangu Gome, Dynamo Fredericks, Aubrey Amseb, Wendell Rudath, Absalom Iimbondi, Marcel Papama, Prins Tjiueza, Willy Stephanus, Alfeus Handura, Wesley Katjiteo, Manfred Starke, Steven Damaseb.

Forwards: Peter Shalulile, Derl Goagoseb, Elmo Kambindu, Issaskar Gurirab, Joslin Kamatuka, Salomon Omseb.