Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti is itching to see his side in action against Senegal when they take on the west African side in a 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday.

The COSAFA Cup champions are looking for their first victory in the qualifiers after losing their opener to Niger, and will hope the home comforts of Windhoek inspire the team.

“Isn’t this why you play football?” Mannetti told reporters. “When you are young and start to play football isn’t this what you ware aiming for? We’ve been preparing for this for our whole lives, to play against a giant like Senegal, here at the Sam Nujoma Stadium with our fans behind us.

“So for me it’s a very important game as well as for the players – they want to match themselves against the best.

“We are playing on our home pitch in front of our fans here in Windhoek so everything is going for us. We have a very confident team, a team that’s ready to go and they can’t wait – they really want to see how good they are, so I’m telling all the fans it’s going to be a very nice game to watch – let us all be brave and support this young team of ours.”

Namibia, who will host the COSAFA Cup 2016, have been in fine form this year and will hope to build on that to qualify for a first continental finals appearance since 2008.