The Namibian side will be led by Edmar Kamatuka as captain, who will stand in for regular Steven Damaseb who will not feature in the first match due to an injury.

The team arrived in Mauritania last week and have been training for a week and played in a friendly match against the Mauritania’s Senior Team which resulted in a draw and Kamatuka reckons all is set for the opening game.

“Obviously we are perceived as the underdogs in the group even though two other countries are making their debut but if they underestimate us it will be at their own risk because we are ready,we prepared well and we will go out there to make a name for ourselves” says Kamatuka.

He adds that “Mentally, we are in a good space, we know what is at stake, we know how hard we had to fight at COSAFA to get here and we will not take that for granted.We will be facing big countries, but we won’t give them the respect on the pitch – it’s an eleven men game and we have our own objectives in this tournament”.

Kamatuka stated that they will go all out to set the tone at the championships.

”We know what it takes to be part of the national set up especially in a country with so much potential and talent and we don’t take that for granted, we will do our best and set a message to others in our group”.

Damaseb is joined in the treatment table by defender Tuli-Baggio Nashixua and midfielder, Pitsi Ameb but the coach James Britz is confident the medical team will take care of it in time for the second match.

Namibia will start their campaign on 15 February against Central African Republic and then take on Tunisia on 18 February before concluding off their Group B action against Burkina Faso on 21 February.

NFA.