Ricardo Mannetti doubts Namibia can repeat their 2015 run in COSAFA Cup

Ricardo Mannetti

Friday Jun 01, 2018. 16:00

Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti says his men will not repeat their 2015 COSAFA Cup triumph, but says he is focusing on their clash against Zambia.

The Brave Warriors are set to face Chipolopolo in a quarter-final and the coach says Zambia are well known to him after their recent clash in the 2018 African Nations Championship finals, and he expects an open contest on Saturday.

The clash will be staged at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Saturday at 15:00 (CAT).

HOSTS SOUTH AFRICA ENTER COSAFA CUP QUARTERFINALS

Mannetti is hesitant to suggest his Namibian side can repeat their 2015 COSAFA Cup triumph, and says all their focus is rather on beating Zambia on Saturday.

“Zambia is a familiar team for us. We just played them at CHAN and will also play them in the African Nations Cup qualifiers,” Mannetti said to the COSAFA website.

“I think it will be a very open game. It’s a derby and we want to win the tournament, but for now we are just focussing on Zambia.

“Beating them will mean that we are in the semi-finals and it will also mean that we continue the psychological superiority that we have over them, which will be especially advantageous going into the Nations Cup qualifiers in September.

“So this is much more important than just a quarterfinal match at the COSAFA Cup – it goes a long way in terms of our qualifiers, the psychological edge and so on. So it’s a very important game for Namibia.”

Meanwhile, the Namibians have lost only one of their last seven encounters against Zambia across various competitions and drew 1-1 at CHAN earlier in the year.