Cosafa Cup blues

Namibia Football Association president Frans Mbidi, who doubles as the vice-president of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa), has admitted the council's executive is concerned about the deteriorating value of the tournament. He said Cosafa has acknowledged that the quality of the Cosafa Cup tournament and the poor attendance is something they need to address as soon as possible.This comes as the nations' competing at the showpiece have fielded junior players - mostly from their under-23 national squads - resulting in substandard displays.The standard of football and the continued poor attendance, especially after host nations are eliminated has now resulted in questions being asked about the success of the competition.Fans hardly watch the matches, because they are not familiar with the players that most teams select for the tournament.In the past, nations fielded their best players and the competition produced fierce and entertaining rivalries. Stadiums were packed to capacity, given the format in which the tournament was previously played.Nations used to play home and away games, which had positive impacts on the brand and quality of football played.The tournament structure has however changed and the tournament is now only played in one specific country each year. Pundits around southern Africa have used several social media platforms to criticise the quality and fever associated with competition. “Yes it is true that the tournament is facing various challenges and there is a dire need for transformation.“The Cosafa executive committee has discussed this and we are looking into ways how we can improve the tournament.“The problem is that many clubs do not release their players on time for this tournament, because it does not fall under Fifa dates,” Mbidi said. He added that one of the things that can limit national teams from using their development squads is when an under-23 Cosafa tournament is created.Currently, Cosafa has a u-17, u-20 and the senior challenge tournament.This has, however, not been enough to stop the senior teams from using their youth squads at the senior tournament. “This tournament is well-recognised by Fifa and that is why it is indeed important to have quality players involved.“Maybe it will be important to try and shift the dates of the tournament, in order for it to fit in the Fifa calendar.“I believe this will enable clubs to release their players on time, in order for us to have a proper tournament,” Mbidi said.Warriors miss outNamibia missed out on the 2018 Cosafa Cup Plate final, after a 4-1 defeat to South Africa in their semi-final match at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa on Tuesday. The team conceded sloppy goals and failed to break the youthful South Africans on the counter. Coach Ricardo Mannetti said told the NFA they had made amateur errors. “We made amateur defensive mistakes in the first 30 minutes and they scored two goals. “After we got our goal, we immediately allowed them to score their third goal, and it was all over for us then, as we had to fix a lot of problems and it was very costly for us in the end.”Jesse Jackson Kauraisa

Cosafa Cup blues

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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Cosafa Cup blues

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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