Brave Gladiators ready for COSAFA

By Michael Uugwanga

NEWLY-APPOINTED interim coach of the Brave Gladiators, Woody Jacobs has made no secret about his team’s chances at the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) Women’s Championship that will be played in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa from September 28 to October 9.

The Brave Gladiators have been hard at work in training at the Namibia Football Association (NFA) technical centre in Windhoek, under the watchful eye of Jacobs who was appointed in the position last week.

The Brave Gladiators are in Group C alongside Uganda, whom they face in their opening group match on September 30 before they take on Zambia on October 3 before finishing of the group clashes with a match against Eswatini.

Jacobs who is known for ‘attractive’ football at club level has told Confidente Sport that his new look team will be going to the regional tournament to compete and not to make up numbers.

The former African Stars, Black Africa, Eleven Arrows, Ramblers, Tigers, Okahandja United and most recently Orlando Pirates trainer has brought in new life in the national squad.

“This team is made up of youth and experience. You can see the energy in training and the whole enthusiasm and they are in a good place even though we are not yet there. We are aiming to go very high at the COSAFA and if we can keep this bunch of players together we can do well.

“Sometimes also as coach you cannot play the style you want, we are therefore going to look at the opposition strength and design a game plan that will suit a particular style of play so that we get the ultimate result. So yes, we still stick to our game plan because we have the ability to play attractive football and expensive football, but it will be determined by our opponent on the day,” said Jacobs.

The match against Uganda will be a tricky encounter for Jacobs and his team as this will give a clear indication where his side will be heading to going forward in the competition.

“Obviously we will be facing an uphill battle against Uganda who are unknown even though they beat us 1-0 last time at COSAFA, but this time around it will be a different ball game altogether. I believe in the abilities of the players and I also believe that we can do well .We are going to give 110 percent and we are going to show them what Namibians are made off”.