The Namibian “Welwitschias”, ranked 24th in the world and trained since last year by South African Allister Coetzee, have already participated in the last six editions of the World Cup (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 ) while the Kenyan “Simbas” have never been.
The winner of this African Cup of Nations, which has been taking place in Provence for a week, will be placed in Pool A of the World Cup-2023 (September 8 – October 21) in the company of New Zealand, triple world champion, France, host country, Italy and Uruguay.
The finalist will not have lost everything since he will have one last chance to qualify via a repechage tournament in November bringing together three other teams: Portugal, as well as the finalist of the “Americas 2” play-off (Chile or United States ), and that of the Asia/Pacific dam (Tonga, South Korea or Hong Kong).
The winner of this repechage will join Pool C alongside Wales, Australia, Fiji and Georgia.
The center and captain of Namibia, Johan Deysel, 30, played for his country at the World Cup-2015 then at the World Cup in Japan in 2019 and would see himself participating in that of 2023 in France, he who plays at Colomiers (Pro D2).
“When you know what a World Cup is, when you’ve already taken part in it, you want to go back even more. It would be incredible to qualify again,” the absent Namibian told AFP. quarter-final against Burkina Faso because he was attending the birth of his daughter.
“We only had a two-week course before this tournament. It’s always a challenge because we come from all over the world,” said Deysel, adding that his teammates played in Poland, the United States or even in Israel.
Coached by Coetzee, former coach of the Springboks, the Namibians hope “to continue to work with him and his staff as long as possible: we just have to pass this last match against Kenya”.
At 6:30 p.m., still at the Maurice-David stadium, the “small” final will oppose Algeria and Zimbabwe, for a strictly honorary third place.
Sunday’s schedule:
Match for 3rd place (6:30 p.m.): Algeria – Zimbabwe, in Aix-en-Provence
Final (9 p.m.): Namibia – Kenya, in Aix-en-Provence