Young Warriors coach content with draw against Botswana
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) pitted Namibia against neighbours Botswana in the first round of the Round to Niger 2019 and the first leg match took place in Gaborone on Saturday.
According to Young Warriors’ coach Gerald Güther, the boys held their own and deserved their draw from the first match, after they played to a goalless draw against Botswana in their 2019 CAF Under-20 AFCON qualifiers.
“It’s half time now and the we have about two weeks to prepare for the second leg in Windhoek. We held our own very well over there and at times defended very well. We also had two good chances in the first half and could have gifted them two goals as well but we now have to work hard ahead of the second leg,” Güther said.
The coach added that he never doubted his teams’ chances of progressing and now are nearly there.
“Botswana had a very clear game plan of long balls and physical play and we got through that and as I never questioned the ability of this team, we can now plan well for the second game. We have some great players in this team and they are getting to gel and that is a great sign for me and for us. Timo (Tjongarero) and Shakes Malembu has done a good job with the boys when I was not around and the guys that formed part of the Brave Warriors recently and played against Lesotho, that experience showed on Saturday and we can only build on that” Güther said.
Botswana will be coming to town on the weekend of 20-22 April with the NFA still to decide on the exact date for the match.
The winner of the Namibia/Botswana tie will proceed to the second round to face Congo in May with the winner of that meeting advancing to the third and final round of the qualifiers were Senegal or Egypt waits in July.
The final tournament will be hosted by Niger in 2019 with the four semi-finalists qualifying for the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup, whose host will be announced next month.
