Young Gladiators suffer heavy defeat

Namibia’s under-20 women’s side suffered a 7-0 defeat to their Ghanaian counterparts at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.

The two sides met in the first leg match of their 2012 FIFA under-20 Women's World Cup and the Black Princesses were favourites against Namibia.

It was 4-0 at halftime with Striker Florence Dadson scoring a hat-trick as the Black Princesses won convincingly against their opponents who had 16-year-old Emma Naris sent off for a deliberate hand ball in the box in the 12th minute.

Further strikes from captain Priscilla Saahene, Elizabeth Addo, Faustina Ansah and Deborah Afriyie sealed the day for the Princesses.

After the match national women soccer team coach Jacqueline Shipanga expressed her dissatisfaction with the scarcity of players of the right age.

“We have a lot of under-17 players in this team and that is due to the fact that we don’t have any pool of 18- and 19-year-old players. The problem is that as soon as the girls get to Grade 12 they think they are big women and can’t play soccer and they leave. After that some of them do regret their choices (but) it becomes difficult to come back again.

“It’s a great problem and we have to deal with it holistically (in order) for us to compete at this level and it starts with the current group of players, hopefully. It is costing the NFA a lot to develop these players and they just don’t reach their full potential,” Shipanga said.

The Young Gladiators will be hosting the Black Princesses in Windhoek for the reverse game on the weekend of March 2 to 4 as they chase a place in the finals.

click to enlarge IN THE DEEP END: National Under-17 player Eddelissingh Naris(left) here in action against South Africa, also played against Ghana © Hector Mawonga