Brave Warriors to face neighbours SA in Cosafa Plate Semi-final

POLOKWANE, 04 JUN  – The Brave Warriors will face neighbours South Africa at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Tuesday for the 2018 Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup Plate Semi-final.

This follows South Africa’s quarter-final 4-3 loss on penalties following a 0-0 draw in regulation time to Madagascar on Sunday at the new Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Namibia lost 4-3 to Zambia at the same stage on Saturday on penalties.

Brave Warriors coach Ricardo Mannetti who was at the stadium with his technical team to watch Madagascar beat their more fancied opponents, welcomed the fixture saying it will be a tough match as usual as both teams are usually highly competitive when they play against each other.

“It is a derby and we all know what comes with it. The expectations are clear, both teams will go for victory and we are not afraid to go for that victory,” Mannetti said.

He said Itamunua Keimuine is likely to miss the match as he has complained about a sore hamstring.
This leaves him without his top two strikers as Keimuine joins Panduleni Nekundi, who suffered a foot injury against Zambia on Saturday.

The two strikers scored a combined 29 goals (Nekundi 15 and Keimuine 14) in the just ended 2017/18 season.
This leaves him with rookie striker Willem Pinehas as the man to lead the attack.
On a positive note, Mannetti said Wangu Batista Gome has joined the camp from his club Platinum Stars.

“Wangu will definitely feature on Tuesday. We will train on Monday to finalise the preparations. We want to surprise them,” he said.

The match against South Africa is a repeat of last year’s Plate Final in Moruleng, where the host beat the Brave Warriors 1-0.

This is the third year running that Namibia is contesting the Plate Final following their success in 2016 in Windhoek, before being runners up last year.

The Cosafa Cup, comprised of 12 teams, started on 27 May and ends 09 June.
NAMPA