Mannetti’s introduction of young players a welcoming development

THE idea of introducing potential young players into the senior national friendly matches by Brave Warriors head coach, Ricardo Mannetti is a development that must be wholeheartedly commended.
Especially following Namibia’s spectacular performance at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals, in Morocco early this year.
Also with foresight of a few players anticipated to ‘hang their boots’ in a couple of years, it is indeed a positive gesture to have players from the junior teams, especially the under-20 and 23 who have been called up for future Brave Warriors’ trials.
With Namibia scheduled to engage Lesotho on 27 March, in an international friendly match, at the Sam Nujoma Stadium, it is interesting to note that the senior national team’s technical committee saw it befitting to rope in new young players to gain the much needed experience.
Having introduced the likes of Peter Shalulile, Denzil Haoseb and Benson Shilongo into the Brave Warriors some three year ago, time has seriously come not just for Mannetti but for other national coaches to think of introducing talented athletes into the senior national team set ups.
Reaching the quarter final of the CHAN competitions in Morocco, the illustrious Mannetti with the junior national football coaches, have agreed to rope in young talented players for the friendly match against Lesotho, and I sincerely hope that it will be a continuous exercise.
This is a development that has to be emulated by other sport codes, to ensure that young talent is unearthed and moulded to take over the reign of the various national teams.
Just like Zimbabwe, who boasts three national football teams for the CAF, CHAN and the COSAFA tournaments, I implore the Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretariat to have three national teams or two if funds permit for the various regional and continental competitions.
It is common knowledge that funding will remain a ‘thorn in the flesh’ to maintain two or three national teams, but it is important for the NFA to source for more corporate funding, that will assist in the establishment of these teams, if we want Namibia to be a force to be reckoned with in Africa.
With the youth regional football leagues almost in all the regions, I do not see any reason why we cannot have three national teams.
Depending on the availability of resources theses can be exposed to regional competitions or simply arrange international friendly matches.
There is no way that we as a football loving nation will allow Mannetti’s achievement both at the regional and continental level to go in vain. All that is needed is for the NFA to mobilize resources both from public and private sector if we want Namibia to become a winning sporting nation.
I personally agree with the Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service Erastus Uutoni’s proposal to have a database of all our regional youth football leagues players, and also his proposal for a ‘sport fund’ that will see both the private and public take ownership by injecting money into the fund.
I also concur with him to have a ‘ sport indaba’ that should be attended by all sport stakeholders in charting the way forward for sport, and also a ‘blueprint’ is needed to convince the corporate sector on their role in the development of sport.

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