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Head coach of the Namibian national team, Collin Benjamin says the team is not too focused on previous results but rather focusing on the hopes and dreams of the people back home that they are carrying at the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
Coming fresh from a historic 1-0 victory over Group E favourites, Tunisia in their opening game, Namibia take on South Africa in their second Group E match on Sunday evening at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo.
Namibia are playing their fourth TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations and are yet to make it out of the group stages.
The last TotalEnergies CAF AFCON meeting between the two sides was in the 2019 edition in Egypt where South Africa emerged 1-0 victors.
“The noise out there whether it was 1998, 2019 or whenever doesn’t matter to them. They are blocking the noise. They are just focused on the task at hand. I have never seen such dedication group of players. On the field, in the gym, during breakfast, they are just focused. Even I am afraid of them” joked the former Brave Warriors captain.
“They not only carrying their own aspirations but it’s the hopes and dreams of the entire nation. For us being underdogs to a certain extent we are immune to it. We are preparing properly and as professionals. We are going to give everything, and this is what we live for. We have people back home supporting us who we are playing for,” said the coach.
A win for Namibia could see them rewrite the history books by advancing to the knockout stages of the competition for the first time but this will have to be hard fought, as they face a wounded Bafana Bafana side who knows most of their players well from the domestic league in South Africa.
Coming fresh from a historic 1-0 victory over Group E favourites, Tunisia in their opening game, Namibia take on South Africa in their second Group E match on Sunday evening at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo.
Namibia are playing their fourth TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations and are yet to make it out of the group stages.
The last TotalEnergies CAF AFCON meeting between the two sides was in the 2019 edition in Egypt where South Africa emerged 1-0 victors.
“The noise out there whether it was 1998, 2019 or whenever doesn’t matter to them. They are blocking the noise. They are just focused on the task at hand. I have never seen such dedication group of players. On the field, in the gym, during breakfast, they are just focused. Even I am afraid of them” joked the former Brave Warriors captain.
“They not only carrying their own aspirations but it’s the hopes and dreams of the entire nation. For us being underdogs to a certain extent we are immune to it. We are preparing properly and as professionals. We are going to give everything, and this is what we live for. We have people back home supporting us who we are playing for,” said the coach.
A win for Namibia could see them rewrite the history books by advancing to the knockout stages of the competition for the first time but this will have to be hard fought, as they face a wounded Bafana Bafana side who knows most of their players well from the domestic league in South Africa.