By Helge Schutz
Namibiaâ??s prospects to do well at the African Cup of Nations finals suffered a blow when they lost 3-0 to Egypt in a friendly match on January 5.
Granted, there were several factors counting against Namibia, not least being that Egypt are the defending AFCON champions and they were playing at home in front of 15 000 passionate fans.
Furthermore, it was new coach Arie Schansâ?? first match in charge of the Brave Warriors after the passing away of Ben Bamfuchile on December 27, although he had met the players earlier at a training camp in Germany from December 12 to 24.
Schans has not even seen the full team yet, since key player Collin Benjamin was not released by his club Hamburg for the match.
According to reports, Namibia held their own in the first half, but their defence unravelled after the break as the Egyptians started opening it up at will. Their first goal came after a fine individual effort by Amr Zaki, but Namibiaâ??s defence was also at fault as he somehow managed to get past three defenders before beating Abisai Shiningayamwe with a fine angled shot.
Their second goal was scored by veteran midfielder and captain Ahmed Hassan who was given too much space in midfield and fired in a long-range effort.
Namibiaâ??s defenders were nowhere to be seen when Zaki scored the final goal two minutes from time. Hassan sent a freekick into the box and Zaki was completely unmarked at the far post to head the ball home from close range.
Assistant coach Ronnie Kanalelo blamed Namibiaâ??s poor defensive structure for the goals and that was clearly evident as they gave the Egyptian attackers far too much space to move in and failed to close them down.
A lack of communication was also evident as Namibiaâ??s players drifted out of position when under pressure and left gaping holes for the Egyptians to exploit.
The question now is whether Schans and his assistants Brian Isaacks and Ronnie Kanalelo will have time to rectify these mistakes before Namibiaâ??s opening match against Morocco on January 21.
That is clearly a tough call as Namibia only have one more friendly left against Senegal on January 12 before their departure for Ghana.
The squad is quite settled, with most of the players having played during their qualifying campaign and in friendlies over the past year.
In the process, the players have built up valuable experience and players like Michael Pienaar, Franklin April, Hartman Toromba, Richard Gariseb, Quinton Jacobs and Rudolph Bester are now much more experienced and mature at international level.
Jacobs already has more than 30 caps to his name, while Pienaar and Gariseb are also closing in on the 30-cap mark.
Combined with other exciting up and coming talents like Letu Shatimuene, Muna Katupose and Meraai Swartbooi, Namibia definitely has the talent to cause a stir in Ghana, but time is against them and the pressure will be on Schans to deliver to a demanding nation.