Lack of Namibia Premier League football worries Mannetti

Ricardo Mannetti

Thursday Mar 30, 2017. 17:00

Namibia head coach Ricardo Mannetti is worried by the lack of premiership football in the country ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

The Brave Warriors are also scheduled to participate in the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers later this year.

The Namibia Premier League (NPL) has been dormant since May last year and this will affect the Brave Warriors' preparations.

“I’m very worried. It’s almost 10 months that players have not been active," Mannetti told New Era.

“We, as the technical team, get paid to sometimes work under unorthodox situations and it’s our jobs to fix this and make sure the players are ready.

“At the moment it doesn’t look good. We first have to train our boys and get them active, then maybe we can give a good account of ourselves."

Namibia are in Group K along with Zambia, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. The 2019 AFCON qualifiers will begin in June 2017.

Before that the Brave Warriors will take on Zimbabwe in the 2018 CHAN qualifiers in July, 2017.