Bring them on!: Zimmer

The national women under-17 side is ready for their first FIFA World Cup qualifier match as they take on South Africa on Saturday at the Sam Nujoma Stadium with kickoff at 16h00.

The team has been in camp for the last two weeks with 20 players fighting for places in the team that face their South Africa counterparts in the two countries first ever FIFA Women u/17 World Cup qualifiers.

According to assistant coach Jeremy Zimmer, the team is capable of causing an upset against South Africa: “we have a great potential with this team and the girls have been working very hard for places in the starting line-up and as a coach, I think we can do well in the first leg at home”.

The second leg with be played on February 5 in South Africa, and Zimmer has warned the visitors too.

“We don’t know anything about the South African except that they had been training at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. They have that luxury, but we have the hunger to succeed and are at home”.

The coach adds that the team has been working on some technical, technical and fitness issues in the last week, ahead of the clash and they are satisfied with the response from the players.

Namibia will be captained by defender Lovisa Mulunga, who is expected to lead from the back literally, while utility player Emma Naris and midfielder Juliana Garises, will also be players expected to inspire the team to victory against the South African side who arrived in Namibia on Thursday.

The two coaches, Bertus Bock and Zimmer are also assisted in the goalkeeping department by Orlando Pirates goal-minder Herbert Kapeng, who has been working with keepers Sharrifa and first choice Melanie Hikuam.

The winner of the two legged- fixture will progress to the second round, where five other African states will join them and ultimately only three teams will qualify for the FUISA Women Under-17 World Cup to be held in Azerbaijan in September 2012.