Namibia coach challenges his team to win first-ever AFCON match

Namibia head coach Collin Benjamin has urged his players to outperform previous performances in their fourth Africa Cup of Nations appearance.

Benjamin will be aiming to guide Namibia to their first-ever win at the continental showpiece, which kicks off next weekend on January 13th in Ivory Coast.

The gaffer announced his final 23-man squad last week, which includes South African Premier League top scorer and Mamelodi Sundowns’ Peter Shalulile as well as British-born defender Ryan Nyambe from Derby County.

Namibia’s Peter Shalulile (C) fights for the ball with Cameroon’s Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (L) during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Group C qualifier match between Namibia and Cameroon at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday. (AFP)

Benjamin will test his squad when they face Ghana at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Friday.

Eleven players from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad who bowed out of the group stage will be returning with the squad, including Joslin Kamatuka, Petrus Shitembi, and Denzil Haoseb.

Benjamin has described the Africa Cup as Namibia’s ‘World Cup’, hence the need for the players to step up and leave a mark in Ivory Coast.

“Before we think of outplaying our opponents, we have to outplay our previous performances in the tournament,” he said. “AFCON is our World Cup and our aim is to leave a mark.”

Namibia is in form ahead of AFCON

Nambia shocked Cameroon in the qualifiers when they recorded their biggest victory ever after defeating five-time African Champions 2-1 .

Namibia National Team coach Collin Benjamin. (Photo/courtesy)

Benjamin has been hard at work with the lads in Ghana, where they are camping. The Brave Warriors engaged in a 1-all training match with the local side, Legon Cities FC, earlier this week. He stressed that the result was not the main focus of the match.

“We aimed to witness how our local players would fare against the physical prowess of West African opponents,” he stated. “We wanted to evaluate the local players’ awareness and capability against physically dominant West Africans.”

He added, “The match served as a platform to assess the adaptability and resilience of players when confronted with the strong style of play often seen in teams from this region.”

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Namibia will take on former champions Tunisia and South Africa with a formidable Malian side completing Group E.