Coach ‘kept in dark’ over Gertze 

Namibia under-20 head coach Lucky Shipanga has addressed questions surrounding Nilton Gertze’s omission, citing communication gaps and calling for regional cooperation in talent identification.

“To be honest, this is news to me, because the player’s name was never brought to my attention,” he says.

Shipanga admits to having seen the questions raised on why the promising young player was not called up for the national under-20 side for the Cosafa Cup qualifiers.

He claims the player’s name was never brought to his attention during the assessment and selection process.

Gertze currently plays for VFL Germania in Frankfurt Germany.

The young national charges will open their Cosafa Cup group A qualifying campaign against Mauritius on Friday.

“Had the name and relevant information been properly communicated to the Namibia Football Association (NFA) youth national team structures and technical department, there would certainly have been an opportunity for us to assess the player.

“As the newly appointed under-20 national head coach, I have deliberately adopted an open and inclusive approach to talent identification. I believe the development of our future Brave Warriors cannot be the responsibility of one coach or one technical team alone.

“We need to work together with fellow coaches, former players and legends, youth coaches, academies and centres of excellence, schools, parents and football communities across all regions of Namibia.”

Shipanga says his approach is to create a broader talent identification network where promising players can be recommended, assessed and properly recorded.

“The objective is not only to select players for one tournament, but to build a reliable database of young talent that can be monitored, developed and nurtured into future national team players.

“Therefore, I would not want anyone to conclude that Nilton Gertze was deliberately ignored or that he is not part of our plans. I cannot make a technical judgement about a player whom I was never given the opportunity to assess,” he says.

He says the preparation period was very brief.

“We assessed more than 50 players before reducing the group, followed by an intensive final period of about eight to10 days to prepare the selected squad for a very important Cosafa qualifying championship in Mozambique.”

Shipanga says decisions had to be made based on the players who were available to them, the information provided to the technical team, positional requirements, performance during assessment, tactical suitability, fitness, mentality and the needs of the team.

“If there are promising players whose names did not reach the technical team, including Nilton Gertze, I welcome that information.

“It is exactly why I’m advocating for stronger cooperation between the NFA, grassroots coaches, academies, schools, regions and communities.”

He says the NFA’s responsibility is bigger than one tournament.

“We are building a pathway for the future.”

Rather than creating a discussion based on hearsay or suggesting that a player was intentionally overlooked, Shipanga encourages anyone with credible information about young talent to share this through the proper football structures.

“Give us the opportunity to assess the player, collect the data and follow his development.

“Nilton Gertze may well be a player with potential, and if so, I would be more than willing to have him properly assessed and monitored going forward.”

Shipanga says the under-20 project is not about closing doors, but rather about opening more doors for young Namibian talent and making sure tomorrow’s Brave Warriors are identified, developed and given the opportunity they deserve.

The post Coach ‘kept in dark’ over Gertze  appeared first on The Namibian.