Namibia coach Collin Benjamin has named his squad for the 2019 COSAFA Cup, with three overseas-based players included in the selection for the Durban tournament that will be played from May 25-June 8.

Benjamin will work with the team while regular head coach Ricardo Mannetti prepares another group for the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, where Namibia have been pooled with neighbours South Africa, Morocco and Ivory Coast.

The COSAFA Cup selection includes Lloyd Kazapua, Sadney Urikhob and Joslyn Kamatuka, who all play outside of Namibia, but for the rest it is a home-based group.

Players such as defenders Vitapi Ngaruka and Charles Hambira, and midfielders Dynamo Fredericks, Emilio Martin and Absalom Iimbondi all return to the COSAFA Cup fr another year after competing in 2018.

They will hope to push for a place in Mannetti’s Afcon squad and can do so if they have a strong tournament in Durban.

Namibia will open their campaign against Mozambique on May 26, before a meeting with Malawi two days later. They finish their group stage matches against Seychelles on May 30 at the Princess Magogo Stadium.

The winner of Group B will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face Zambia on June 2.

Namibia are former champions of the COSAFA Cup after a superb run to the trophy in 2015 under Mannetti, which ended with a 2-0 victory over Mozambique in the final.

They followed that up with a win in the Plate final on home soil in 2016, and a year later were losing finalists in the Plate, beaten by hosts South Africa, as they continued to fight for silverware.

In 2018 they suffered a quarterfinal exit, narrowly beaten on penalties by Zambia following a 0-0 draw.

Namibia squad:

Ratanda Mbazuvara, Lloyd Kazapua, Larry Horaeb, Charles Hambira, Vitapi Ngaruka, Ivan Kamberipa, Emilio Martin, Aprocious Petrus, Edmund Kambanda, Absalom Iimbondi, Aubrey Amseb, Dynamo Fredericks, Marcel Papama, Wesley Katjiteo, Llewelyn Stanley, McCartney Naweseb, Isaskar Gurirab, Junias Theophilus, Joslyn Kamatuka, Sadney Urikhob.