Brave Warriors coach Brian Isaacs will be going all out for victory when they meet Burkina Faso in an African Cup of Nation (AFCON) qualifier in Windhoek on Saturday.
Although Namibia is out of the running for a place in next year’s finals, Isaacs said the match was important to restore the pride of the team.
“It’s very important that we restore our pride because it looks like we are not competitive anymore. This is now a platform for us to show that we can compete against the best in Africa. Burkina Faso is a very good and strong team which is highly rated in Africa and they will give us an opportunity to correct the situation,” he said.
Namibia’s hopes of qualifying for AFCON 2012 came to an abrupt end on March 27 when they lost 4-0 to Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou, following an earlier 3-1 defeat to Gambia. Isaacs however believes that they have learnt from their mistakes and will be a different team on Saturday.
“As a coach I learnt a lot from our 4-0 defeat to Burkina Faso in the first leg. We were not mentally prepared for them and technically we also made some mistakes. So this is now an opportunity for us to see what we have learnt - as players and as the technical team.”
“In Burkina Faso we scored two own goals and they scored two long range shots and that shows you that we made some mistakes. If we can correct these mistakes then we can turn the tables; Now I also know how they play so we can prepare better for them,” he said.
Isaacs said that Kenya’s failure to turn up for a friendly match on Monday was a setback since he wanted to try out some combinations and team tactics, but now he would have to do without it.
“It is definitely a setback because I wanted to try out some combinations and work on some team tactics so that would have been a very good preparation. But I have assembled a very good group and we are now trying to work on some team tactics and mental preparations to get ourselves ready for the weekend,” he said.
Isaacs meanwhile called on Namibian fans to come out in large numbers to support the Brave Warriors on Saturday.
“I would love the fans to come and support us because without them we don’t exist. We need them so please come and support us.”
All of Namibia’s foreign based players had arrived in Windhoek by Monday, with the exception of Razundara Tjikuzu.
According to Brave Warriors team manager Tim Isaacs, Tjikuzu was due to arrive on Tuesday morning but his Air Namibia flight from Frankfurt to Windhoek was delayed due to technical problems. The Burkina Faso team was also booked on the same flight so they will all now arrive at a later date.