{"id":2508,"date":"2021-01-21T11:48:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2508"},"modified":"2021-01-21T11:48:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T11:48:31","slug":"goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/01\/21\/goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Satish Sekar in Rustenburg \u00a9 Satish Sekar (October 7<sup>th<\/sup> 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>\u2018Friendlies\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Molefi Ntseki is clear what his goals are. The two friendly matches against Namibia and Zambia are about preparation for November\u2019s double-header against S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 e Pr\u00edncipe. Ntseki refuses to take the so-called minnows lightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explained his reasons for picking the opponents, Namibia on 8 October and 2012 AFCON Champions Zambia, on Sunday, at a press conference which also told media about an agreement to host Bafana Bafana matches at tomorrow\u2019s venue, Rustenburg\u2019s Royal Bafokeng Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both Namibia and Zambia are under new management since last year\u2019s AFCON Finals. Ricardo Mannetti\u2019s playing career ended in 2003, having played in the 1998 AFCON.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He coached Namibia from 2013 until 2019 with a brief interlude in 2015. Richard \u2018Bobby\u2019 Samaria took over the Brave Warriors \u2013 he is still their coach<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Not So Great Expectations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNamibia are a very tough team physically,\u201d Ntseki told media. \u201cThey play with a lot of enthusiasm and motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are expecting a very tough match.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He pointed out that top Namibian players Peter Shalulie and Deon Hotto had recently moved to bigger teams in South Africa\u2019s PSL (Premier Soccer League), Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey [Namibia] are a hard-running team,\u201d Ntseki said. \u201cthat is why we felt they would give us what we are really looking for when we talk about tactical elements of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou need to have tough opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He pointed out that Namibia, then coached by Ricardo Mannetti, had given the Bafana Bafana a tough match at last year\u2019s AFCON.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although expecting more of the same, tomorrow\u2019s match was about learning about his players and preparing for the vital AFCON 2021 Qualifiers against S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 e Pr\u00edncipe next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt will be a very tough and interesting match and it will really help us prepare for S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9,\u201d Ntseki said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Satish Sekar in Rustenburg \u00a9 Satish Sekar (October 7th 2020) \u2018Friendlies\u2019 Molefi Ntseki is clear what his goals are. The two friendly matches against Namibia<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions\/2509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}