SAINTFIET LOOKS FORWARD TO BAFANA CLASH
Namibia coach Tom Saintfiet says his side will be on a mission when they come to South Africa to play Bafana Bafana in an international friendly at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on March 3.
“For a country like Namibia and for me as a coach, this is a wonderful opportunity for us to take on our 'Big Brother' and to see just how far we have come in recent times,” Saintfiet says. “We watched as they beat Zimbabwe 3-0 recently and this is a chance for us to then gauge ourselves against the Zimbabweans to try and better their result in Durban.
“For us to grow as a team it is first important that we become a top side in Southern Africa, once we have done that then we can start thinking about becoming a top side in Africa.
“In the last month we have played Angola (0-0), DR Congo (4-0) and Zambia (0-1) and we did well in all those games. So the signs for us are good and we want to build on that.”
Saintfiet confirmed that he will be bringing his overseas player for the game, but that his star man, Collin Benjamin who plays in the German Bundesliga with Hamburg, would not be available.
“Collin has a cruciate knee injury and will not be available, but for the rest, striker Wilko Risser [Eintracht Trier, Germany], midfielders Oliver Risser [Lyn Oslo, Norway] and Razundara Tjikuzu [Diyarbakirspor, Turkey], they will be there.
“We also have a number of players in the South African league of course, but unfortunately the majority of these are bench-warmers, which is not good for us.
“So on paper we are not as strong as South Africa but you need to play these types of games to improve yourself and this game will be very good for us in that regard.”
Saintfiet has been in charge of the Brave Warriors since July 2008, during which time the team has played 15 internationals, winning five, drawing five and losing five.
One of the more impressive wins came in a 4-2 success over Zimbabwe in a 2010 World Cup qualifier in October 2008, while they have also beaten 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finalists Malawi 1-0 in that time.