Brave Gladiators unlucky to lose to Banyana

Namibia’s women’s national football team, the Brave Gladiators, lost 1-2 to South Africa's Banyana Banyana in a friendly match played at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday. The match was used by both nations as preparation for the ninth edition of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Championship, slated for Namibia from October 11 to 25 this year. Banyana Banyana striker Leandra Smeda opened the scoring in the 28th minute of the game, and it was doubled by Disebo Mametja in the 60th minute. Namibia got their consolation goal in the 84th minute, when Zenatha Coleman brilliantly assisted Thomalina Adams just outside the Banyana Banyana box. Adams outran the South African defenders before beautifully converting to score a goal that saw the crowd celebrating enthusiastically. Speaking to the media after the game, Banyana Banyana coach Vera Pauw said her team started a bit slack, but she was impressed with the level of football the Namibian team played. “Our players were surprised by the strength of the Namibian team even though we dominated the game,” she said. “The Namibian team has improved so much in a short space. Our players gave it their best even though we conceded a goal late in the match, but overall we are happy with the results,” she said. Namibia’s assistant coach, Ace Komeya, told the media that his team is still in a preparation process, but come October when they host the women’s championship, they will be ready to get results. “At the moment we know what we still need to improve on, because this game showed us our strong and weak points, but today our girls did not play their best game because they lost a lot of balls,” he said. Komeya noted they are planning to play stronger opponents such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast in preparation for the TN Mobile CAF Women’s Championship. The competition will also be used as qualifiers for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada. -NAMPA WINDHOEK–HESRON KAPANGA