Sikerete upbeat about Lesotho encounters 

The Brave Warriors leave for Bloemfontein, South Africa this afternoon for their Chan first leg encounter against Lesotho on Saturday. 

Eeshoke Chula Chula coach John Sikerete will be in charge of the national team for the first time after steering his club to great heights over the past season. 

Competing in the Debmarine Premiership for the first time, they brought a breathe of fresh air to Namibian football with their huge and passionate fan base, and under Sikerete’s guidance, they did wonders, finishing fifth in their debut season, while also reaching the semifinals of the PstBet NFA Cup.

Besides that, they beat African Stars for the second time in the Dr Hage Geingob Cup with an impressive 2-0 win last weekend, and now Sikerete, with Leonard Namwandi as his assistant, has been put in charge of the national side for the first time. 

Sikerete’s appointment, however, is only for the Chan tournament for local-based players, while Collin Benjamin will still be in charge for Namibia’s Fifa World Cup and Afcon qualifying campaigns.

He will oversee both the Brave Warriors’ encounters against Lesotho, with the return leg also taking place in Bloemfontein a week later, while the aggregate winner will face Angola for a place in the 2025 Chan finals, to be held in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in February next year. 

At a training session on Tuesday, Sikerete said it was an honour to be appointed national coach.

“It’s really an honour for me to be at the helm of the country so that I can oversee the game against Lesotho. I would like to thank the NFA for trusting me, for seeing progress in my work and secondly from the national team coach (Benjamin) for his input as well, for giving his views on who should be helping him, because of his tight schedule. So far I’m very happy with what has happened to me,” he said. 

With the premier league still in limbo (according to a recent NFA statement it’s due to kick off on 2 November) Sikerete will be in charge of a team short on match practise, but he said that it should not be a problem.

“I think that should not be a big excuse because the African Stars players have been campaigning in the CAF Champions League, while the Chula Chula players have been preparing for the Dr Hage Geingob Cup for about three weeks,” he said. 

“Looking at the players that we have here I can’t complain about their fitness really and I think we will come up with the right squad to contain Lesotho. I dont know much about Lesotho, but I will take a look at them, and if we prepare as I wish to prepare we can get a good result,” he added. 

Sikerete also called up Stars’ talisman Willy Stephanus who makes his return to the national squad for the first time in more than two years. 

“We decided to bring him back and he’s looking good. I spoke to him personally and he said he’s happy to be back in the team, he’s doing very good and he looks really happy among the other players,” Sikerete said. 

Stephanus’ return adds a lot of experience to the team – with 62 caps he is by far the most experienced national player in the team, with African Stars defender Charles Hambira (46 caps) and FC Ongos midfielder Wangu Gome (34 caps) next in line. 

Besides them, the only other relatively experienced players in the squad are Stars’ defender Ngero Katua (15 caps), Stars goalkeeper Kamaijanda Ndisiro (10 caps) and Unam midfielder, Paulus Amutenya (10 caps). 

Players from Stars and Chula Chula dominated the initial 36-man preliminary squad, with eight coming from Chula Chula and seven from Stars. FC Ongos, Mighty Gunners and Tigers were next in line with three players each, while Young Brazilians, Okahandja United and Julinho Athletic each had two, and Khomas Nampol, NCS, Blue Waters, Unam, Quiver and Airboirne FC each had one.