Young stars enjoy their Warriors debut
Lukas Nambala - The Namibia national football team recently played against Swaziland in an international friendly match at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura, resulting in a 1-1 draw.Deon Hotto opened the score for the Brave Warriors ten minutes after half-time with a free-kick taken by Lazarus Kaimbi on the left side with Hotto finding the back of the net.
Swaziland applied the pressure on the Brave Warriors after Kaimbi received a second yellow card, leaving the home team to finish the match with only ten players. Felix Badenhorst scored the equalizing goal for Swaziland with only five minutes left to the final whistle.
It was an enjoyable and eventful match that saw a lot of supporters coming to the field. Brave Warriors coach Ricardo Mannetti had selected a number of young players to represent the senior national team for the first time.
The young stars showed that they are ready to wear the Brave Warriors shirt. Many took their first opportunity well and gave their best to the national team. Tjiuana tja Tjinotjiua, a player from the newly promoted Namibia Premier League club Citizens, featured at right back.
Wangu Gome, the skilled and dangerous midfielder from Civics and the u.23 Namibia national team, showed that he is eager to play for the senior team. Due to a pulled muscle in the second half Gome had to be replaced by Marius Kotze.
After the match Mannetti said that he was happy with his young stars’ performance, but not happy with the red card that saw the team finish the game with one man down.
“We dominated the whole first half as well as the early part of the second half. I am very happy to see the young ones performing well in their first appearances,” he said.
“I knew that Swaziland would give us a tough match and hope the boys will make us proud next time.”
Mannetti added that he was glad to see veteran striker Henrico Botes back on form. “He created a number of chances for the team to gain a victory.
“The match became tougher after we got the red card. My main intention was to give more young boys the opportunity if we were ahead, but I couldn’t do that because of the red card we got,” said the coach.