Brave Warriors pecking order remains the same ... as Samaria announces his team against Senegal
Namibia's squad that will represent the country in their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches next month, was announced last Thursday. The PlayMaker runs its eye over the squad. Namibia has two massive clashes against Senegal next month in their pursuit of reaching the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The race to get to Qatar 2022 gets underway once more across Africa, with Namibia right in the thick of things after collecting four points from their two games played.
They face Africa's top ranked country, who are two points ahead of them in group H, as the Lions of Teranga have won both their matches.
The game is scheduled for Saturday, 09 October 2021 in Dakar while the return leg will see Namibia hosting the West African nation at their ‘home away from home' venue at the Soweto Stadium in South Africa on 11 October 2021.
Namibia's dream of being among the elite football playing nations of the world, thus, relies on the outcome of these two matches.
Interim coach, Bobby
Samaria called up a group of 29 players as his provisional team for those two games against the Senegalese.
Several players in the group recently played against Senegal in the Cosafa Cup when the ‘Lions of Teranga' participated in the competition as guests.
The Brave Warriors won the match 2-1 to record Namibia's first win against Senegal, although some may point out that the West Africans had fielded mostly youth players in their bid to add to their player pool. The result, though, marked the first of many records. Not only was it Namibia's first win over Senegal in a full international match, it was also the first time the Brave Warriors were able to score more than two goals against the West African powerhouse. In fact, it was only the third goal ever for Namibia against the ‘Lions of Teranga' with the only other goal coming from Brian Brendell in an international friendly match on 13 January 2008; a game the Brave Warriors lost 3-1.
The Cosafa Cup result also meant that Namibia broke a five-game losing streak against Senegal.
The PlayMaker takes a look at the latest squad call-up: the surprise omissions, the positives and what the form of the players suggest.
Brave Warriors Pecking order
Given the importance of the upcoming encounters against Senegal, coach Bobby has decided to stick with the tried and tested. Players like
Kennedy Amutenya and Lubeni Haukongo will have to do much more to impress the coach if they want to move up the pecking order.
Kennedy joined Cape Town Spurs and has already made three appearances for his new club in the GladAfrica Championship. His club occupies position number 15 on the log. Kennedy was part of the squad that represented Namibia at the Cosafa Cup.
Lubeni Haukongo finally made his debut for Chippa United against Orlando Pirates. A favourite of Gavin Hunt,so much so that he gave him the captain's armband. Chippa United is in position number 14 on the log.
Both Lubeni and Kennedy is up against stiff competition in the National team as most of the centre backs have more experience than them at international level. They will have to remain consistent and patient,as you never know when your opportunity comes knocking.
Wangu Gome is another player that is struggling to work his way up the packing order.
A player who dominated the midfield not so long ago. Was voted best player at Cosafa in 2015. Wangu has just won the Super Cup in Armenia with Alashkert over the weekend.
In recent years, Players like Papama, Fredericks and Tjiueza got the nod ahead of him. Could it be that he finds it hard to fit in the system of the team?
Wangu was an unused sub when Namibia defeated Togo 1.0 in Lomé.