| New soccer coach says he has solutions |
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| Written by Imelda Mokhatu | ||
He said he became the youngest coach in Belgium at the
age of 24 years. He has coached Qatar’s U17 team, and Al Etehad (now Al
Gharafa) – which is in the Qatar Star League. Saintfiet said the Qatar
U17 team won Bronze in the AFC Asian Championship in 2004 and
automatically qualified for the World Championship.
For the past two years, Saintfiet was the Technical Director of FC Emmen in Holland and the Finnish Premier League club RoPS Rovaniemi. “I will start on Namibia next week, make analyses of the games and the players I see, look at some DVDs of the past games. I will also talk with my assistant-coaches and other people in the NFA. After that, we can really start the work”. He told the Economist that he has been following African soccer, has read books and magazines, watch television games and updated himself on the Internet. The Belgian studied Sports-psychology and Economic-psychology (K.V.H, Belgium 1991-1995), has a ‘UEFA – A’ Diploma (Royal Belgian Football Association, K.B.V.B), a License of Physical Football-coach 1,2 3 (International Academy for Physical Football-training, The Netherlands), Course ‘Wiel Coerver’ method (Skill Development Coach) and has attended coaching courses with the Dutch Football Association (K.N.V.B.). He said the COSAFA Cup is a good chance to see the players’ qualities and get the chance to know them better, personally. Saintfiet said the nation can expect him to try his best in producing good results. On scouting for new and younger players, he said the best opportunity would be getting to work with the U/23 team, where he will be able to monitor and see the young talent that he can incorporate into the Brave Warriors squad. “After that I have no problem that people judge my work. Three months must be enough to convince and bring a positive future back to Namibia,” he said. Saintfiet said he will find the real ‘Namibian style’ but the nation will see tactics and styles of German football. “I like the professionalism of Germany and also the nice technical football of Holland has some influence on me,” he said in an e-mail to the Economist. |
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