Brave Warriors' road ends at Chan

LIMBA MUPETAMI Namibia entered the competition as underdogs and surprised football fans when they beat Group B favourites Ivory Coast 1-0 in their opening match.The local players, who have not enjoyed any active football for almost a year, further went to defeat Uganda in the second match with the same results and drew 1-1 with Zambia, which gave them the opportunity to face the dreaded Moroccans.In the first six minutes of the match against favourites Morocco Namibia received a free kick near the box which Riaan !Hanamub took. He curved in a brilliant ball but none of the Namibian players in the box put a touch to the ball. Morocco counter-attacked and almost scored but goal keeper Loydt Kazapua came to the defence of Namibia and stopped the ball from reaching the back of the net.The match was even in the first half as Morocco struggled to find their form and Namibia stood firm in their quest to humble the hosts.But to the surprise of the Namibian defence who were caught napping, the host nation scored their first goal on 33 minutes, through a quick free kick which saw Ayoub El Kaabi score before halftime. The technically gifted Moroccans found their rhythm soon after and started attacking the Namibian defence each minute they got in the second half. Namibia also came out more brave and confident but the sleek play of the Moroccans on the ball could not be denied.The hosts played free-flowing football and again got a goal through Sallahedine Saidi who tormented the Namibian defence all evening.The Namibian team found it hard to find the back of the net as their only goal in the game came in the 70th minute when Absalom Iimbondi's free kick, which was headed in by Charles Hambira, was disallowed by the referee. After the match Namibia's coach Ricardo Mannetti said the level of football by the Moroccan team and individual quality was key to the host nation winning the game.“We did well under the circumstance of playing against a well-oiled machine today, but my boys came out to show they deserved to be here with their brilliant performance against the host team,” he said.When asked about the decisions that went against his team, the coach said football was an emotional game and he refused to blame the match officials for his team's loss.“The game just didn't go our way because our opponents were better than us. I am not going to blame the referee for the decisions he took because that's not me,” Mannetti said.He stated that they needed individual brilliance in the team to come out, but their opponents were tactically better.“I don't think there is a Namibian fan or player that should drop their heads because we lost. “We qualified for this competition against the odds and that is something we should be happy about as a nation,” said Mannetti, who added that he was happy as his team did well in the competition. - Additional information: NFA

Brave Warriors' road ends at Chan

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-23

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Brave Warriors' road ends at Chan

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-23

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