Namibia eye progress at u17 Cosafa

The Baby Gladiators and Baby Warriors are looking for improved showings at the under-17 Cosafa tournaments in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The junior competitions run concurrently from 4 to 14 December, with the men’s tournament doubling as a qualifier for the CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations.

Preparations have been far from ideal for the Namibian teams, with the players only assembled last week and others missing out on selection due to unspecified “issues with their travel documents.” This again could prove to be the undoing for Namibia as their rivals have comparatively had better preparations.

The Baby Gladiators will need to be at their best to lay a glove on host nation South Africa, Madagascar and Malawi.

Namibia lost 12-0 to both South Africa and Malawi at the 2022 edition of the competition in Lilongwe where the tournament was last held.

They are now hoping lessons learnt from that humbling experience will help make a better impression this time around, with head coach Hafeni Ndeitunga upbeat about his team’s chances.

Namibia open their campaign on Thursday, when they take on Madagascar at the UJ Soweto Stadium.

“I am quite impressed with how the girls have been doing considering we only trained for a few days. There is a lot of talent in the country but some girls had to stay behind because of issues with their travelling documents,” Ndeitunga said in an interview with NFA Media on Saturday.

“We are currently focused on our first hurdle which is Madagascar, we believe the opening match sets the tone to the rest of the games during the tournament.

“The sessions we were focused more on the tactical aspect of the game, we need to get the girls get used to playing with each other,” he explained.

Likewise, the Baby Warriors, Cosafa champions in 2016, crashed out in the group phase in Malawi two years ago. They are not only keen to make it out of their group – which also features multiple winners Zambia, Zimbabwe and Eswatini – but reach the final and guarantee Afcon qualification.

Speaking to NFA Media before the team left for Johannesburg, head coach, Gerald Güther said it is important that the Baby Warriors do well at the Cosafa championship.

“We did the best considering the time frame, the overall fitness of the team looks good, we have players from Australia, Pretoria and Cape Town and the local academies who were active,” he said of his team’s physical readiness.

Namibia take on Zambia on Thursday in their first test at the competition, before facing Eswatini on Saturday and concluding their group stage against Zimbabwe on 9 December.

“The team understands the importance of this tournament. The boys are eager to play,” Güther said. “I believe we have selected a strong quality squad and will be able to achieve our objectives.

“Our objective for the Cosafa championships is clear. We want to go all out and play on the continental stage.”