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Brave Warriors qualify for 2020 CHAN finals

Brave Warriors qualify for 2020 CHAN finals

Brave Warriors’, Elmo Kambindu scored a brace on Saturday to ensure that Namibia qualified for the 2020 African Nations Championship (CHAN) Finals.

Namibia defeated Madagascar 2-0 at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in the second leg of their qualifying tie over the weekend.

The aggregate score ended 2-1 in favour of the Namibia, who lost the away leg 1-0 to Madagascar.

The CHAN competition will be the 6th edition which exclusively features players from respective domestic leagues.

The qualification of the team is an achievement as the country’s domestic league has not been played for the last couple of months and the match fitness of the players was a serious concern for the coaches.

“The boys knew what had to be done because of the result of the previous match and they came through. During the training sessions we focused on creating opportunities and scoring goals and the players delivered.

We however also observed that match fitness is a serious problem amongst the players and that is why we took them to Mariental for the friendly games in the absence of a domestic league. We will keep working with this same players till next year because we don’t have many options”, says an elated Brave Warriors Interim Coach Bobby Samaria.

FIFA Normalisation Committee Chairperson Hilda Basson-Namundjebo weight in on the excitement.

“We are thrilled beyond words. Obviously we expected it because we worked very hard for it. This means a lot for Namibian football that we continue to qualify frequently for international participations and that it doesn’t happen once in a while, the same applies for AFCON, it can’t be after each ten years,we need to put Namibia out there and this is a step closer to that”.

A total of 16 teams qualify to play in the final tournament, including Cameroon which qualify automatically as hosts between January and February 2020. (NFA).


 

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Sport Contributor

The Economist does not have a dedicated sport reporter. This designation is used for several contributors who want their sport stories in the Economist. Experience has taught us that companies usually want their sport sponsorships published prominently, being the reason for a sports category. It now also carries general sport items but only those with direct Namibian relevance. - Ed.